Former Bangladesh prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia has been released from years of house arrest after her bitter enemy Sheikh Hasina was ousted as premier, her party said Tuesday.
"She is now freed", a Bangladesh National Party (BNP) party spokesman, AKM Wahiduzzaman, told AFP, a day after orders to release her were given following the military taking control.
Khaleda Zia has been thrown into the spotlight after her country descended into political turmoil. Her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled Bangladesh on Monday (August 5) to India after over a month of deadly student protests over the quota system for government jobs.
After Hasina stepped down and left the South Asian country, President Mohammed Shahabuddin, after a meeting with Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, announced the release of the key opposition leader Zia.
The president said in a statement that it was “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately”.
Parliament dissolved
Bangladesh's president dissolved parliament on Tuesday, a key demand of student protesters who led demonstrations that ousted longtime ruler Sheikh Hasina, a statement read. "The president has dissolved parliament," Shiplu Zaman, press secretary of President Mohammed Shahabuddin, said in a statement.
Who is Khaleda Zia?
Khaleda Zia, 78, is the chairperson of the BNP, who served as Bangladesh’s prime minister multiple times. In fact, she became Bangladesh’s first female prime minister in 1991. Zia was born in Jalpaiguri in undivided India in August 1945.
Her foray into politics happened after her husband, Lt General Ziaur Rahman, a military officer, was assassinated in 1981. Rahman, who became Bangladesh’s president in 1977, was killed in office.
During her first stint as Bangladesh’s PM, Zia led the country through a period of civil unrest. As she was short of a majority, the BNP leader formed the government with the backing of Jamaat-e-Islami. She returned to power in 1996 for a second term, however, her government survived for only 12 days. She stepped down after installing a caretaker government on the demand of the opposition parties led by the Awami League.
Fresh elections were held in June of 1996, leading to Awami League’s Hasina being elected to power.
Zia and Hasina led the governments in Bangladesh alternatively for years. Their political rivalry “polarised” Bangladesh politics.
Zia made a comeback in 2001 and served as the prime minister for a five-year term. She resigned in 2006 after her tenure ended and was arrested on charges of corruption and abuse of power a year later.
Her younger son Arafat was also arrested for the same offence. Zia’s other son, Tarique Rahman, was also in prison at the time. Tarique fled to the United Kingdom later in 2008.
Zia was jailed in 2018 for graft after being sentenced to 17 years. Her supporters had decried her arrest, saying the corruption charges were a politically motivated attempt to keep her out of power.
In March 2020, the Hasina government allowed Zia to walk out of jail over health issues. The then Bangladeshi law and justice minister Anisul Haq said she was released on the condition that “she remains in her Dhaka residence to receive treatment and does not go abroad.”
Zia has been under house arrest since then. Over the last few months, she has been admitted to the hospital multiple times due to worsening health.
In June, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir claimed Zia was on her “deathbed” after she was rushed to the hospital.
Zia’s release could be a boon for her party which has lost popularity in recent years. A power vacuum was created in the BNP after she was arrested in 2018. Her son, Tarique, who also faces corruption cases in his homeland, is the vice chairman of the party.
BNP’s Alamgir became the face of the opposition on the ground. However, the leadership of the party remains with Zia’s family.
Nobel winner Yunus asked to lead caretaker govt
Student leaders in Bangladesh has urged country’s Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus to lead the interim government after Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to India.
In a video posted on social media early Tuesday morning, Nahid Islam, one of the key coordinators of the students movement, said that Prof Yunus has agreed to take on this crucial responsibility at the call of the student community to save the country, the Daily Star newspaper reported.
"We took 24 hours to announce a framework for the interim government. However, considering the emergency situation, we are announcing it now," Nahid said. "We have decided that the interim government would be formed in which internationally renowned Nobel Laureate Dr Mohammad Yunus, who has wide acceptability, would be the chief adviser," said Nahid, flanked by two other coordinators.
Earlier, in his reaction to Sheikh Hasina’s ouster, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus described Bangladesh as a “free country” after Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign as prime minister and flee the country after weeks of violent anti-quota protests that finally demanded her resignation.
“We were an occupied country as long as she (Sheikh Hasina) was there. She was behaving like an occupation force, a dictator, a general, controlling everything. Today all the people of Bangladesh feel liberated,” Muhammad Yunus said in an interview.
Muhammad Yunus, who has been charged by the Awami League government in over 190 cases, accused the fleeing Sheikh Hasina of destroying her father, ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's legacy.
The economist is known for his expertise in microfinance and has his work had lifted millions of people out of poverty. Once seen as Sheikh Hasina's potential rival to the country's prime ministership, she accused him of “sucking blood” from the poor.
The 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner was convicted on charges of embezzling $2 million (more than 16 crore rupees) from the workers welfare fund of Grameen Telecom, one of several firms he founded.
Yunus said violence and vandalism by the protesters is the expression of anger against Sheikh Hasina and “an expression of damage she has done”. He also expressed hope that the same students and young people will be leading Bangladesh in the right direction in future.
Yunus explained that seething anger against Sheikh Hasina could not be expressed in a political way due to a series of rigged general elections. “So that came out as a simple demand for quota changes. It immediately caught up because the government behaved the same way, attacking them rather than listening to them because they are not in a listening mood at all,” Yunus said.
Western powers call for calm, democratic transition
Western powers called Monday for calm in Bangladesh after long-ruling leader Sheikh Hasina fled, with the United States saluting the military for forming an interim government rather than cracking down further on protesters.
Sheikh Hasina, who had particularly close relations with regional power India, enjoyed a mostly cooperative relationship with the West during her 15 years in power but had increasingly drawn criticism for her authoritarian turn.
The United States called on all sides in Bangladesh to "refrain from further violence" as bullet-ridden bodies were strewn across hospital floors and looting swept the capital Dhaka.
"Too many lives have been lost over the course of the past several weeks, and we urge calm and restraint in the days ahead," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
Hasina, the daughter of Bangladesh's founding father, had sought to quell a nationwide uprising that started with student-led protests against job quotas. Nearly 100 people were killed on Sunday as calls grew for her to step down.
Miller said that the United States had seen reports that the army refused pressure to crack down further on student-led demonstrations.
"If it is true in fact that the army resisted calls to crack down on lawful protesters, that would be a positive development," he said.
"We welcome the announcement of an interim government and urge any transition be conducted in accordance with Bangladesh's laws," he said.
Asked if the military should choose the next leadership, Miller said, "We want to see the Bangladeshi people decide the future Bangladeshi government."
- Call for UN-led probe -
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a "peaceful, orderly and democratic transition" as well as a "full, independent, impartial and transparent investigation into all acts of violence," his spokesman Farhan Haq said.
Bangladesh's former colonial power Britain called for the United Nations to take the lead in an investigation.
"The people of Bangladesh deserve a full and independent UN-led investigation into the events of the past few weeks," Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement.
The European Union also called for "calm and restraint."
"It is vital that an orderly and peaceful transition towards a democratically elected government is ensured, in full respect of human rights and democratic principles," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.
Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said her country "condemns the human rights violations, deaths, torture, arbitrary arrests and lethal force" used in response to the protests.
"During this transition, we urge all parties to respect and uphold democratic institutions and processes and the rule of law," Joly said in a statement.
There was no immediate reaction from regional governments to the fall of Hasina, who had sought a delicate balancing act of enjoying support from India while maintaining strong relations with China.
Indian media said that Hasina flew to a military airbase near New Delhi.
A top-level source said she wanted to transit on to London, but it was unclear if she would be allowed.
The United States in the past praised Hasina's economic track record and saw her as a partner on priorities such as countering Islamist extremism and sheltering Rohingya refugees fleeing persecution in Myanmar.
But Washington more recently criticized her for autocratic tendencies and imposed visa sanctions over concerns on democracy.