Case filed by SC lawyer over Khaleda’s remarks on ’71 war casualties; BNP calls countrywide protests
Case filed by SC lawyer over Khaleda’s remarks on ’71 war casualties; BNP calls countrywide protests
Former Bangladesh PM Begum Khaleda Zia, head of the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was ordered on Monday to appear in court to answer the charge of sedition, a move her supporters said was driven by politics.
The case comes amid rising concerns over the growth of Islamist militancy in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation, which saw a string of deadly attacks on secular writers, minorities and foreigners last year. It was filed by Momtaz Uddin Ahmad Mehdi, a lawyer with the Bangladesh Supreme Court and a supporter of the ruling Awami League.
He said that remarks Ms Khaleda Zia made last month about the 1971 war of independence were seditious. He said the comment hurt him “as a patriot” and that as a citizen, he had a right to file the case.
An affiliate BNP group called for a countrywide protest for Tuesday. After a brief hearing, the court summoned her to appear before it in person. “The court summoned her (Ms Zia)... She has been asked to appear by March 3 to face the sedition charge for her recent slanderous comments over the 1971 liberation war martyrs number,” a court official said.
Speaking at a discussion on December 21 last year, 70-year-old Ms Zia had “expressed doubts” about the casualty figures of the 1971 liberation war. “There are controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There are also many books and documents on the controversies,” she had said.
Ms Zia’s BNP is a crucial ally of fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan. The ruling Awami League, 1971 veterans and members of the martyred families had sharply reacted to Ms Zia’s comments with some of them even calling her as the “agent of Pakistan”. Monday’s development came a day after the home ministry gave its clearance to move the sedition case against the ex-Premier.
It was not immediately clear what chance the prosecution had of success in the case. Ms Zia was ordered to appear in court on March 3. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, acting secretary-general of the BNP, dismissed the case as politically motivated. “This is nothing but a mockery and its aim is to deter Khaleda from politics,” he told reporters.
“The intent of the government is to continue its repression of the Opposition by the police, making confrontational politics.” He said 17,000 Opposition activists had been arrested since 2014 and 3,000 were still in jail. East Pakistan broke away to become independent Bangladesh in 1971 after a war between India and Pakistan.
About three million people were killed, according to official accounts.
