DHAKA, 20 April 2007 — A supporter of former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia lodged a petition in court yesterday to block efforts by the army-backed government to send her into exile.
Babul Chowdhury, a member of a front organization of Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), filed the writ in the High Court saying it was a human rights violation to force her to leave the country or “put her under house arrest.” Khaleda has been under virtual confinement at her home for nearly two weeks.
Sources in the army-backed interim government and Khaleda’s party said earlier this week she had entered a deal with authorities to go abroad in return for dealing leniently with her jailed elder son and political heir apparent Tareque Rahman.
Reports said that under the same deal authorities released Khaleda’s younger son Arafat Rahman just 24 hours after he was detained.
But on Wednesday Khaleda’s close associates said she had changed her mind and now wanted to stay in Bangladesh. The high court said it would examine and rule on the writ on Sunday.
Analysts said Khaleda’s decision to fight to stay in the country may have been encouraged by her rival Hasina Wajed’s determination to return to Bangladesh against government orders.
Hasina, herself a former prime minister, arrived in London yesterday from a private visit to the United States and will fly home to Dhaka early on Monday, officials of her Awami League party said. Hasina has vowed to defy the government’s bar on her return to the country.
She said that “nothing would stop” her return to participate in elections and defend herself against charges of murder and extortion.
Awami League former lawmaker and a close Hasina aide, Kazi Zafrullah, was arrested in Dhaka Wednesday evening.
His family sources said security personnel picked him up from his residence in the Gulshan neighborhood.
Zafrullah was arrested hours after the Home Ministry slapped a ban on Hasina’s return to the country.
Zafrullah was to accompany Hasina during her recent US trip but could not go due to his mother’s illness.
The interim government said on Wednesday that security forces and immigration authorities had been put on alert to take “necessary actions” to thwart Hasina’s return.
The government ordered authorities at all entry points to prevent Hasina’s planned return on Monday, the New Age and Ittefaq newspapers reported. All airlines, both domestic and international carriers, have been asked not to allow Hasina to board should she try to return to the country, the reports said, quoting an Interior Ministry order.
Local media said they have been told by the government not to publish or broadcast any reaction from Hasina to the decision to block her return.
Khaleda and Hasina, head the country’s largest political parties, whose supporters engaged in deadly street clashes that prompted authorities in January to adopt emergency rule and delay national elections. The interim government took over in January from a Khaleda-backed caretaker administration that replaced her after her five-year term ended in October.
News organizations said they had retracted stories containing comments from Hasina about the ban on her return after being contacted by government officials.
“Yes, we did receive phone calls and we’re advised not to carry any Hasina statement,” Toufique Imrose Khalidi, chief editor of the bdnews24.com news agency, said.
“I responded to the emergency rules and acted accordingly.” Law and information adviser Mainul Hosein told reporters that “you have to keep in mind that the state of emergency is in force in the country. Many basic rights are seized under the emergency rules.” On Wednesday, the Interior Ministry accused Hasina of issuing “inflammatory statements” against the country’s military-backed interim government while she was outside the country.
A ministry statement said her return might create further confusion and incite hatred among the people.
“Law and order might deteriorate, prevailing stability disturbed and public safety and economic life jeopardized,” the statement said.
The statement followed several days of media reports that the interim government has been pressuring Hasina and Khaleda to go into exile to help calm the country while authorities try to clean up its corruption-ridden politics.
National politics in Bangladesh had been polarized for a decade between Hasina’s Awami League and Khaleda’s BNP. The two women have both been widely blamed for political confrontations that frequently spilled into the streets.
The army-backed interim administration declared the state of emergency in January amid mounting violence and cancelled planned elections.
