DHAKA, 8 May 2007 — Former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed, facing charges of corruption and murder, arrived in Bangladesh yesterday after the military-backed government lifted a ban on her return.
“It’s my country, it’s my home. I’m so excited to be able to return to my country,” Hasina told reporters at Dhaka’s Zia International Airport after arriving from London. “No one can stop me,” she said.
Senior leaders of her Awami League greeted her after she arrived on an Etihad Airways flight, but there was no mass reception at the capital’s airport because of restrictions imposed under a state of emergency.
Witnesses said thousands of her followers stood outside the airport gate, chanting and waving banners to welcome her.
Hasina was originally due to return home on April 19 after a holiday in the United States, where her son and daughter live, but she was stranded in London after the interim government ordered airlines and immigration to block her return.
The ban was lifted six days later under intense local and international pressure.
“I am happy to be able to come back, after a period of uncertainties,” Hasina told reporters. “This is my country, they cannot keep me from coming back, no one can stop me.” Hasina said she did not expect to be detained or put under house arrest. “They (government) had made a mistake by trying to block my return. I don’t think they would make another mistake.” Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since Jan. 11 and parliamentary elections planned for Jan. 22 were canceled by the interim government headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed.
Political activities were banned and security forces have detained more than 160 senior political figures in an anti-graft hunt since then, including Tareque Rahman, eldest son of the most recent Prime Minister Khaleda Zia.
But Hasina’s followers ignored the emergency ban on street rallies, marching with her returning motorcade, witnesses said. Back home, Hasina laid wreaths at the portrait of her father and the country’s independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, flanked by hundreds of party leaders and supporters.
In a separate development, the country’s high court yesterday directed the government to restore phone connections to the cantonment residence of Khaleda Zia within three days.
The high court also ordered the government to explain why Khaleda, chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, who has been held incommunicado at her Dhaka residence, should not be allowed to move freely like any other citizen of the country.
The verdict was delivered by a division bench comprising Justice Shah Abu Nayeem Mominur Rahman and Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury.
Government’s attorney Salah Uddin Ahmed told the court there were no restrictions on Khaleda’s movement.
