By IANS
Dhaka : Bangladesh’s interim government, accused of blocking medical treatment abroad for ailing and detained former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has said it is willing to send her, as well as her rival Khaleda Zia, abroad provided they seek permission.
Hasina’s Awami league (AL) and Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said they would not apply for permission.
Media reports said Thursday that they fear that the government wants to send them out of the country to curb political dissent.
Party leaders and sections of the intelligentsia had demanded medical treatment abroad for Hasina, 61, who fell sick in the courtroom last Monday, heavily perspiring and displaying signs of fluctuating blood pressure.
Jail authorities had said Tuesday that there was no provision under the law for her travel abroad and that she would have to do with a panel of doctors. In any case, they said, she was “not cooperating” by giving details of her ailment.
Zia, 62, has also been unwell while in jail since Sep 3 last year. Her party men have complained that she was not receiving proper treatment in jail.
Law and Information Adviser Mainul Hosein told media that both leaders could be sent abroad for treatment, but they need government permission for that. He also said that so far they have not received any request from either ex-premeir.
“I received no such proposals. The legal aspects of such proposals would be examined once we receive them,” Hosein said.
Asked how the government would send the two former premiers abroad as they are detained and under trial, the law adviser said: “There are many options including bail and release on parole.”
But AL’s acting President Zillur Rahman said they would not send any formal proposal, as the government had said earlier there was no rule to send detainees abroad for treatment.
He, however, said: “It is the party chief’s decision whether she wants to go abroad for treatment. If she wants to go then we will support it.”
The BNP termed the law adviser’s comments “a reflection of the government’s previous plan to send the two leaders to exile”.
“We have not heard that Khaleda Zia is seriously ill,” said Rizvi Ahmed, acting office secretary of BNP. He said if such a situation arose, her physicians and family members would decide whether to send her abroad.
Some Awami League workers termed the issue of sending Hasina abroad “a political matter”.
“There certainly is a government move to send her (Hasina) abroad using ‘better treatment’ as an excuse,” a senior AL leader told The Daily Star newspaper on condition of anonymity.
In April 2007, the caretaker government of Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed had unsuccessfully tried to keep the two women leaders out of the country. Hasina was prevented from returning home from a family visit to the US, while Zia was to have left for Saudi Arabia as part of a deal.
Hasina was prevented from boarding a Dhaka-bound flight in London, but the former prime minister fought back and mounted international pressure on Bangladesh government to allow her to return home.
Zia reportedly agreed to leave with most of her family members, but conveyed to the Saudi authorities that she was being forced out. She prevaricated and eventually stayed back.
Both have since been detained on corruption charges and lodged in special jails.
AL and BNP are clamouring for the release of their leaders, demanding early elections that were called off in January last year.
The government, however, has said it would hold elections only by this year-end and has launched a drive against corruption, booking many top politicians.