DHAKA, 11 May 2007 — Bangladeh’s army-backed caretaker government imposed restrictions on Awami League chief and former Prime Minister Hasina Wajed days after she returned home following a failed exile attempt by authorities, aides said yesterday.
Several leaders from her party were turned away from her home by security guards late Wednesday, Hasina’s Personal Secretary Hasan Mahmud said.
“We’ve not been officially told about the status of our leader. It’s the right of any citizen to visit another. We hope the government will not breach that right,” he said.
Awami League General Secretary Abdul Jalil said the party would talk to the government about Hasina’s status.
Hasina returned on Monday to a rapturous welcome by more than 20,000 Awami League supporters who defied a ban on demonstrations to greet her.
“The whole situation is not clear to us. We want to know what actually is the position of the government about the status of our leader,” Mahmud added.
Government officials could not be reached for comment.
The movements of Hasina’s bitter rival, Khaleda Zia — the last Bangladesh prime minister and leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) — had also been restricted since last month and she cannot leave her home without permission from security forces, her aides said.
The security forces also restrict who she can meet and turn back most visitors, they added.
However, the government has said it has placed no curbs on Khaleda’s movements or her visitors.
The interim government last month abandoned a plan to exile both Khaleda and Hasina in the face of international and local pressure.
Khaleda’s BNP led a coalition government until last October, when it handed power to a caretaker administration ahead of January elections.
But the elections were scrapped and emergency rule imposed on Jan. 11 by President Iajuddin Ahmed after months of violent clashes between BNP and Awami League supporters.
The military-backed interim government took over and has pledged to hold elections by the end of 2008 after cleaning up the corrupt political system.
Chief Election Commissioner Dr. A.T.M. Shamsul Huda has said the army personnel will prepare the electoral roll with photographs.
Huda for the first time made clear the army’s role in electoral roll preparation following a presentation of an army delegation on how work would be done at the field level and how data would be compiled for the electoral roll.
“The army will prepare the electoral roll. We are now looking into different methodologies of work and cost which they (army) have proposed. We are examining the options and the cost involved with different options,” Huda told reporters.
