By IANS
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is doubtful that general elections would be held as scheduled and also whether they would be fair keeping in view the government’s efforts to debar her family from the contest.
The entire family of the country’s slain founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, including Hasina, her sister Rehana and other relations were sought to be kept out of politics, she said Wednesday as the government pressed corruption charges against her in a court.
Rehana, who is not in public life and lives in Britain, has been implicated in a case of extortion involving 29 million takas ($50,000 approx) to ensure that she cannot lead the Awami League in future, Hasina told her lawyers.
According to New Age newspaper, the Awami League leader was allowed to consult her team of 20 lawyers for half-an-hour in the makeshift courtroom at Jatiya Sangsad (parliament) complex where she has been under detention since July 16.
Hasina, who ruled in 1996-2001, has claimed that she is innocent as are her sister Rehana and cousin Sheikh Selim and the extortion charge is a frame-up.
“The verdict is ready. Selim bhai will be sentenced to a long term and I and Rehana will be sentenced to short terms. We all will be barred from taking part in elections,” Hasina reportedly told her lawyers.
“I am in doubt if any elections would be held and if democracy could be sustained,” Hasina was quoted as saying by a lawyer attending the consultation.
“What will follow if some kind of an election is somehow held and someone is put in power?” Hasina is reported to have said.
“Since we are alive by the grace of Allah, time will come for us to see who is more honest,” she said.
The government’s chief prosecutor Sharfuddin Ahmed Mukul pressed the charges before Dhaka metropolitan sessions judge M. Azizul Haque. The court posted further hearing for next Monday.
Hasina has been lodged in the same complex as her arch political rival, Khaleda Zia, also jailed for corruption. Zia’s two sons, Tarique and Arafat are also serving jail terms.
They are among the high-profile former ministers and lawmakers caught on corruption charges as part of the government’s anti-corruption drive that has netted over 200,000 people.
Bangladesh currently has a military-backed interim government that assumed office on Jan 11 after elections were called off amidst political turmoil.