Everything about Sheikh Hasina totally explained
Sheikh Hasina Wazed (
Shekh Hasina Oajed) (born
September 28,
1947) was the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh from 1996 to 2001. She has been the President of the
Awami League, a major political party in Bangladesh, since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the nationalist leader and first president of
Bangladesh.
Early life
Sheikh Hasina's political career started as a student activist in
Eden College in 1960's. However, she was mostly under the shadow of her father until her family was killed in a
coup d'état on
August 15,
1975. She and her sister Sheikh Rehana, who were in
West Germany at the time, were the only surviving members of the family. She later moved to the
United Kingdom, and then was in self-exile in
New Delhi,
India before returning to Bangladesh, and Bangladeshi politics, on
17 May 1981.
Daughter of a politician in Pakistan, Hasina got involved in politics as a student. While at Government Intermediate College, she was elected vice president of the College Students Union for the term 1966-67. Her opponent was the leftist student leader
Motiya Chowdhury, who much later joined
Awami League and became a member of Hasina's
cabinet.
In
Dhaka University, Sheikh Hasina was a member of the
Chhatra League (the student wing of
Awami League) and secretary of the Rokeya Hall unit. During the
liberation war in 1971, Hasina, then a young mother, was in house arrest with her mother, brothers, sister and her son.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was imprisoned in
West Pakistan during this period. After liberation, Hasina's involvement in politics was minimal as Sheikh Kamal, her brother, was touted as Mujib's successor.
Member of the National Assembly
Her political and personal destiny was irrevocably altered on the fateful night of
August 15,
1975, when her father and almost her entire family including her mother and three brothers were
assassinated in a
coup d'etat by a section of disgruntled officers of the
Bangladesh Army, some of whom were
freedom fighters during 1971. Sheikh Hasina and her sister, Sheikh Rehana were on a goodwill tour of
West Germany at that time. Hasina then sought refuge in
United Kingdom and later, in
India. She was exiled to
New Delhi,
India until
May 17,
1981 when she was allowed to return to
Bangladesh.
Movement against autocracy
While living in self-exile in India, Sheikh Hasina was elected the president of
Bangladesh Awami League in 1981. After she returned to the country, the erstwhile president
Ziaur Rahman was assassinated in yet another coup in May, 1981. The following year, General
Hossain Mohammad Ershad captured power through a bloodless coup and declared
Martial law. In 1983, Hasina formed the 15-party alliance to launch a movement to oust him from power. She was in and out of prison throughout the 80's. Her party along with the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Zia's widow
Khaleda Zia, were instrumental in the movement against the military rule. In 1984, Hasina was put under
house arrest in February and then again in November. In March 1985, she was put under house arrest for three months at a stretch.
In 1990, Hasina's 8 party alliance was instrumental along with another BNP-led alliance in finally overthrowing the Ershad regime.
Interestingly, under the leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Awami League formed an alliance with
Hossain Mohammad Ershad's Jayiya Party in 2006.
Leader of Opposition
Sheikh Hasina and her party
Awami League participated in the 1986 Parliamentary election held under President Lieutenant General
Hossain Mohammad Ershad. She served as the leader of
opposition between 1986-1987. Hasina's decision to partake in the election has been criticized by her opponents, since the election was held under
dictatorial rule. Her supporters maintain that she effectively used the platform to challenge Ershad's rule. The parliament was dissolved in December, 1987.
The first
democratic elections were held in 1991 after long dictatorial rule. A
caretaker government, headed by
Shahabuddin Ahmed, the outgoing chief justice, oversaw the elections.
Bangladesh Nationalist Party won the election, and Hasina's
Awami League emerged as the largest opposition party. Hasina was defeated in the Dhaka constituency that she contested by
Sadeque Hossain Khoka, a future Mayor of Dhaka, but was elected to the Parliament from her home constituency in
Gopalganj. Hasina accused BNP of "nuanced rigging" in elections. Hasina nevertheless offered to resign as the party president but later stayed on at the request of party leaders.
Khaleda Zia of BNP took office as the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
Politics in Bangladesh took a decisive turn in 1994, after
Magura by-elections. This election was held after the MP of that constituency, a member of Hasina's party, died. Awami League was expected to win it back, but the seat was won by BNP. The opposition parties accused BNP of widespread rigging and the election commission of incompetence. The Awami League, with other opposition parties, demanded that the next election be held under a caretaker government, and that the notion of a caretaker government be incorporated in the constitution. The ruling party of
Khaleda Zia, Hasina's arch rival, denied to give in to these demands.
Opposition parties launched an unprecedented
campaign, calling
strikes for weeks on end. The government accused them of destroying the
economy while the opposition retaliated that BNP could solve this problem by acceding to their demands. In late 1995, the MPs of Awami League and other parties lost their seats due to prolonged absence in the parliament. The government declared elections on
February 15,
1996, an election that was boycotted by all major parties but the ruling BNP. Hasina claimed that the election was a
farce. The elected parliament, almost totally comprised of BNP members, finally amended the constitution to create provisions for a caretaker government. The next parliamentary election was held under a caretaker government headed by Justice
Habibur Rahman on
June 30,
1996.
Prime Minister
Awami League won 148 seats in the 1996 parliamentary elections. The support of the
Jatiya Party and a few independent candidates were enough for the 150+ seats needed for the required majority. Hasina took the oath as the prime minister of
Bangladesh. She vowed to create a
Government of National Unity. Though some smaller parties and a few individuals from BNP did join the government, the distance between the main two political parties (as well as their leaders) remained as large as ever. Hasina did manage to convince Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, who led the first caretaker government, to assume the post of President. This selection of a neutral person as president was praised by her supporters as a proof of Hasina's good will to reach out to the opposition.
A major coup by the new government was to strike a
treaty between India and Bangladesh concerning the
Farakka Barrage, a bone of contention between the two countries ever since it was built in the 1960s. According to the treaty, Bangladesh was to receive 33 thousand cubic feet per second (930 m³/s) of
water. Hasina next went on to create a
Peace Treaty with the
tribal rebels in the mountainous southeast of the country, thus seemingly solving a problem as old as Bangladesh itself. Though rebel activities have reduced greatly after the treaty, the region remains a hotbed for tension.
On the down side, Awami League was criticized for harbouring
gangsters turned politicians, most notably
Jainal Hazari of
Feni. Her government was also criticized for overusing
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the media and naming many major institutions and constructions by his name. Awami League maintained that previous governments have tried to systematically eradicate Sheikh Mujib's legacy from the country and that the honor he was getting was long overdue. BNP also accused Awami League of politicizing the administration and state-owned
media. Her party was also accused of being lenient towards India, especially after a shoot-out between border forces of India and Bangladesh left 16 Indian and 3 Bangladeshi border guards dead.
During the last year of her rule,
Transparency International declared Bangladesh to be the most
corrupt country in the world. Though Bangladesh had almost always been in the bottom five, the last position created an uproar and was seen by many as a major failure by Hasina. Though Hasina has been voted out of office since, Bangladesh has remained at the last position. The opposition demanded that Hasina resign and declare early elections, but Hasina refused to do so. She became the first democratically elected prime minister to complete her term.
Justice Latifur Rahman became the head of the caretaker government. Awami League alleged that he was biased towards BNP after he transferred a large number of
civil servants immediately after taking office. Later, Hasina would also accuse
President Shahabuddin Ahmed and election official
Abu Sayeed of biased actions.
Landslide defeat
The
Awami League succumbed to a landslide defeat in the 2001 Parliament elections. It won only 62 seats in the Parliament, while the
Four Party Alliance led by the
Bangladesh Nationalist Party won more than 200 seats, giving them a two-third majority in the Parliament. Hasina herself was defeated from a constituency in Rangpur, which happened to contain her husband's hometown, but won from two other seats. Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League rejected the results, claiming that the election was rigged with the help of the President and the Caretaker government. However, the
international community was largely satisfied with the elections and the
Four Party Alliance went on to form the government.
The
Awami League has been irregular in the Parliament ever since. Hasina maintains that the ruling party doesn't give the opposition enough time on the floor. In late 2003, the Awami League started its first major anti-government movement, culminating in the declaration by party general secretary
Abdul Jalil that the government would fall before
April 30,
2004. This failed to happen and was seen as a blow to the party and Hasina herself, who had implicitly supported Jalil.
In her second term in opposition, Hasina has been faced with
assassination attempts against herself and killings of important party personnel. Ahsanullah Master, an MP, was killed in 2004. This was followed by a grenade attack on Hasina in Dhaka, resulting in the death of 21 party supporters, including party women's secretary Ivy Rahman. Finally, her ex finance minister
Shah A.M.S. Kibria was killed in a
grenade attack in
Sylhet.
In June 2005, the Awami League got a boost, when AL nominated incumbent mayor
A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury won the important
mayoral election in
Chittagong, the
port city and second largest city in Bangladesh. This election was seen as a showdown between the opposition and the ruling party.
The planned
January 22, 2007 elections were marred by controversy. The Awami League and its allies protested, saying that the elections wouldn't be fair because of alleged bias by the caretaker government in favor of Zia and the BNP. Hasina demanded that the head of the caretaker government, President
Iajuddin Ahmed, step down from that position, and on
January 3,
2007, she announced that the Awami League and its allies would boycott the elections. Later in the month a state of emergency was imposed, Ahmed stepped down, and the elections were postponed.
Extortion allegations and criminal charges
On
April 9 2007, it was announced that Bangladesh police were investigating extortion charges against Hasina. She is accused of forcing Bangladeshi businessman Tajul Islam Farooq to pay extortion money before his company could build a power plant in 1998. Farooq said that he paid Hasina 30 million takas (US$441,000, or €383,211) to get his project approved by the government, according to a police official.
On
April 11, murder charges were filed against her by the police, alleging that she masterminded the killing of four supporters of a rival political party in October 2006. The four alleged victims were beaten to death during clashes between the
Awami League and rival party activists. Deputy police commissioner, Shahidul Haq Bhuiyan said "detective branch police submitted the charge-sheet of the case to a Dhaka court today after carrying out investigations and taking evidence." She was visiting the United States at the time.
The interim administration subsequently took steps to prevent Hasina's return to Bangladesh, with
The New Nation newspaper reporting on April 17 that airlines had been asked not to allow her to return to
Dhaka. She had been planning to return on
April 23. On
April 18, the government barred Hasina from her planned return, saying that she'd made provocative statements and that her return could cause disorder. This was described as a temporary measure. Hasina vowed to return home anyway, and on
April 22, a warrant was issued by a Bangladeshi court for her arrest. On the same day, Hasina attempted to board a flight back to Bangladesh in
London but wasn't allowed on the flight. Labelling the case against her as "totally false and fake", Hasina said that she wanted to defend herself against the charges in court. On
April 23, the arrest warrant was suspended, and on
April 25 the ban on Hasina's entry into the country was dropped.
With her rival Khaleda Zia being pressured to go into exile at the same time, the government's actions against Hasina appeared to be an attempt to restructure the political system rather than an attempt to support her rival.
After spending 51 days in the US and UK, at 4:45pm on
7 May 2007 Sheikh Hasina arrived at
Zia International Airport in Dhaka, where she was greeted by a jubilant crowd of several thousand. At the airport Hasina told reporters that it was a mistake for the government to stop her from returning and that she hoped it wouldn't "make a bigger mistake", while acknowledging that its reversal was a positive gesture.
July 2007 arrest
On
July 16,
2007 Hasina was arrested by state police at her home and taken before a local court in
Dhaka. She was accused of extortion and was denied bail on the same day as her arrest, and she was held in a building that was turned into a jail on the premises of the National Parliament. According to the Awami League, the arrest was politically motivated.
On
July 17, the Anti-Corruption Commission sent a notice to Hasina, along with Zia, requesting that details of her assets be submitted to the Commission within one week.
Hasina's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy stated that the Caretaker Government were going beyond their limits but that he didn't plan to return to Bangladesh immediately but will try to organize a protest worldwide. The arrest was widely seen as move by the military-backed interim government to force Sheikh Hasina to leave Bangladesh into political exile.Earlier attempts were made to bar her from coming back to Bangladesh. UK MP have condemned the arrest.
On
July 30, the Dhaka High Court suspended the extortion trial of her and ordered her release on bail. On
September 2, an additional case was filed against Hasina by the Anti-Corruption Commission regarding the awarding of a contract for the construction of a power plant in 1997, for which she allegedly took a bribe of 30 million takas and kept the contract from going to the lowest bidder; six others were also accused of involvement. This coincided with a case filed against Zia on the same day. On
February 6, however, the High Court stopped the trial, ruling that she couldn't be prosecuted under emergency laws for alleged crimes committed prior to the imposition of the state of emergency.
Books
- ওরা টোকাই কেন? Ora ţokai kêno? (Why are they street children?) 1987
- বাংলাদেশে স্বৈরতন্ত্রের জন্ম Bangladeshe shoirotôntrer jônmo (Birth of autocracy in Bangladesh), 1993
- দারিদ্র বিমোচন, কিছু ভাবনা Daridro bimochon, kichhu bhabna (Thoughts on eradication of poverty), 1993
- আমার স্বপ্ন, আমার সংগ্রাম Amar shôpno, amar shônggram (My dream, my struggle), 1996
- People and democracy,1997
- আমরা জনগণের কথা বলতে এসেছি Amra jônogoner kôtha bolte eshechhi (We want to speak for the people), 1998
- বৃহৎ জনগোষ্ঠীর জন্য উন্নয়ন Brihot jônogoshţhir jonno unnôeon (Development for the large masses), 1999
- Development of the masses, 1999
- সামরিক তন্ত্র বনাম গণতন্ত্র Shamorik tôntro bônam gônotôntro (Military rule versus democracy), 1999
- আন্তর্জাতিক সম্পর্ক উন্নয়ন Antorjatik shômporko unnôeon (Improvement of international relations), 2001
- বিপন্ন গণতন্ত্র, লাঞ্ছিত মানবতা Bipônno gônotôntro, lanchhito manobota (see following entry for English name), 2002
- Democracy in distress, demeaned humanity, 2003
- Sohena manobotar abomanona (Against degradation of humanity), 21 february, 2003
- Living with tears, 2004
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