By Xinhua,
Dhaka : The 9th parliamentary election in Bangladesh kicked off on Monday. The Awami League is one of the two major parties in the election and Sheikh Hasina is the president of the league, one of the oldest political parties in the country.
She ruled the country as prime minister from 1996-2001 and served as leader of the opposition in several parliaments including the last parliament dissolved in October 2006.
Here is the profile of Sheikh Hasina.
Hasina, 61, is aspiring to form the next government through the parliamentary elections on Monday. Her Awami League formed a grand election alliance with former president Hussain Mohammad Ershad’s Jatiya Party.
Hasina was arrested by the incumbent caretaker government on charges of corruption in July 2007 but released on executive order in June this year and later she got bail from all the cases in November, which paved the way for her to participate in the election.
Hasina is the eldest daughter of Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who led the independence war against Pakistan in 1971.
In 1968, she was married to an eminent scientist, M.A. Wazed Miah. They have one son and one daughter living in the United States.
Hasina graduated from the Dhaka University. She was active in student politics while in college and university.
When her father Sheikh Mujib Rahman was assassinated on Aug. 15,1975, the assassins killed every member of his family they found in the house. Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana survived the carnage as they were in Germany at that time.
Hasina was forced to live in exile after the assassination of her father.
In 1981, she was elected President of the Bangladesh Awami League while still in political exile. She returned home from exile in 1981.
Hasina is an avid reader of books and journals on international politics, literature and social welfare. She is the author of several books, “The Plight of The Street Children”, “The Origin of Autocracy”, “The Elimination of Poverty”, “Some Thoughts”, “People and democracy” and “Development for the Masses”.
She is a member of a cultural organization called Culture and Literature Sangha and a founder member of the country’s leading sports club Abahani Krira Chakra.