Nothing to do if BNP doesn’t join polls: PM Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated that the national election will be held in time with or without the BNP.

“We cannot do anything if the BNP doesn’t participate in the election. The election will be held in time,” Hasina said at a media briefing in Dhaka on Monday.

The BNP had stayed away from the 2014 election demanding a neutral polls-time administration, which they still want.

Now, the BNP has ruled out going to the election with Chairperson Khaleda Zia in prison.

“Nobody can do anything, if they don’t participate,” Hasina, president of the ruling Awami League, said referring to the BNP’s boycott of the 2014 election.

The briefing at the PM’s official residence was meant to brief the media on her recent visit to Italy and the Vatican.

Hasina attended a meeting of the International Fund for Agriculture Development governing council in Rome. She said the IFAD has provided loans for the rural economy.

On her talks with Pope Francis in the Vatican City, Hasina said the pontiff praised communal harmony in Bangladesh.

After reading out her written statement, she mentioned the launch of 4G mobile networks, lifting of the ban on direct air cargo to the UK as good news.

The Bangabandhu satellite will be launched sometime in March, according to Hasina.

She questioned the BNP’s rationale for assigning Tarique Rahman, himself a convict, to lead the troubled party in the absence of Khaleda who was jailed for five years in a corruption case.

She described the BNP as a party with broken leadership and asked whether it had any other member than Tarique to steer it through its bad days.

“The corruption case was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and court proceedings continued for 10 years. Our administration has nothing to do with it.”

Former PM and BNP chief Khaleda Zia being taken to the prison after a court in Dhaka convicted her of graft on Feb 8.

On the court allowing Khaleda’s personal aide Fatema to accompany her in prison, Hasina said it was “not something new.”

“During the caretaker regime, I was kept in a damp building with a broken bed. She (Khaleda) was in the house designated for the speaker.

“She chose her own room. Fatema was allowed to be with her, which was kept a secret,” she said before adding the then DIG of prisons Shamsul Haider Siddiqui can confirm it.

Her remarks came after a member of the media asked what happens if any other convict pleads with the court for a similar privilege.

The prime minister said Khaleda’s personal aide had to give an undertaking of serving her in prison voluntarily so that “no one can move the court over it.”

Hasina also said she has not received any calls from world leaders after Khaleda was convicted.

“Nobody seems to like those who are convicted of corruption,” she said responding to a question from the media.

‘Question leaks are not new’

Asked whether the government will take actions over the official failure to plug question leaks of public examinations, the prime minister said it happened in the country before.

“Question leaks are not new in Bangladesh. The reality is it has been happening for decades,” Hasina said.

“But the issue now is the use of technology. It creates opportunity as well as problems.”

On taking measures over the failure, the prime minister said, “Was the minister or the secretary involved in it?”

Despite adopting a series of measures, the government has failed to plug question leaks in public examinations. File photo

Following leaks of question papers of eighth and fifth graders last year, the education ministry took a raft of measures, including making it mandatory for students to enter the centres half an hour before the tests and arrest of anyone carrying a smartphone within 200 metres of exam halls.

But making a mockery of the attempts, questions of almost every subject of this year’s SSC exams leaked on the social media hours before the tests.

The government even planned for an internet outage for a few hours ahead of the tests, but later reversed it.

“Blocking the internet is not the solution. If that worked, then we had to block mobile phones and all digital systems. Just think what would have happened then?” asked Hasina.

The prime minister urged the media to track down who were behind this menace. “They will be punished immediately.”

She suggested that students do not have the photographic memory and cannot memorise answers in such a short period of time to be able to reproduce them in the answer sheets.

Digital Security Act

The prime minister sought to reassure journalists that they need not be concerned over the proposed law and said her administration will address the issue that has sparked fears.

Last month, the Cabinet gave its green light to the draft of the ‘Digital Security Act 2018’, which now awaits Parliament’s nod.

“Why are you so apprehensive?" Hasina asked. It will not be used against journalists unless it was something serious, she added.

The ICT Act's Section 57, which criminalises ‘publication of fake, obscene or defaming information in electronic form’, drew criticism for effectively muzzling the freedom of speech and expression. File photo

The new law details issues addressed in the controversial Section 57 of the ICT Act in an elaborated way.

Its Section 32 defines storing and transferring of confidential government data as well as aiding and abetting in such efforts as espionage, which critics say can be used against investigative reporting.

The prime minister, however, emphasised the proposed law is meant to combat cyber crimes, which she described as a ‘huge problem’.

She said it has not only emerged as an issue in Bangladesh, but in other parts of world as well. “Technology creates opportunities, but also has its perils.”

Rohingya crisis

Blaming Myanmar for dithering over repatriation of refugees, Hasina said the country has similar problems with all of its neighbours - India, China, Thailand and Laos.

Bangladesh now hosts over 1 million Rohingya refugees after some 700,000 fled Myanmar since late August last year to escape violence in Rakhine. Reuters file photo

Myanmar has created the problem and it will have to solve it, she said. “They agreed to take back 8,000 for now and we will watch how they treat them.”

The prime minister said efforts were on to create international pressure on Myanmar to take back its citizens. “We just can’t abandon them. How do we leave them to face danger?”