Khaleda to lose cantt home

Dhaka, Apr 8 (bdnews24.com)—Exactly a week after the prime minister spoke on the issue in parliament, the cabinet decided Wednesday to cancel the lease on 6 Moinul Road bungalow in Dhaka cantonment, given away to Khaleda Zia after the May 30, 1981 murder of her husband, BNP "founder" and army chief-turned-president Ziaur Rahman. "Under the lease rules, two houses cannot be allotted to one person. Since one house (the cantonment mansion) was given away in 1981 and then another in 1982, (the cabinet) has decided to cancel one," PMO spokesman Abul Kalam Azad told reporters Wednesday. "Since Mrs Khaleda Zia was given a second house, on 1.5-bigha in Gulshan, it has been decided to cancel the allotment of the 9-bigha cantonment house," Azad said after a cabinet meeting. The 2.72-acre mansion was originally the official home of the army chief, a position held by then Lt Gen Zia who then converted himself into a civilian head of state through martial law proclamations and controversial votes. The cabinet decision came after days of clamour triggered by prime minister Shiekh Hasina's statement in parliament last week that she would ask the slain general's wife to vacate the house and that blocks of apartments would be built in the prime land for families of army officers killed in the Feb mutiny. "Why should you, being a political leader, live in the cantonment? You were allotted another house on one-and-a-half-bigha land in Gulshan, why will you keep the army land?" Hasina said, speaking in parliament on Apr 1. Hasina arguments "I will request her to leave her 6 Shaheed Mainul Road house in Dhaka Cantonment," she told parliament on Apr 1, in reply to a question by Awami League MP and former law minister Abdul Matin Khasru. "No member of parliament, no leader of the opposition, should live in the cantonment," Hasina said in reply to another query of AL MP for Narayanganj-2 Nazrul Islam Babu. "The cabinet will decide whether to cancel this allotted house. I alone cannot decide," she had said. She said the house was allocated to Khaleda in violation of the Cantonment Board Law. Hasina had also announced that her younger sister Sheikh Rehana would hand over to the slain BDR officers' families the one-bigha land in Dhanmondi which she was allotted in 2001. The 2001-06 BNP-led coalition government, immediately after taking over, cancelled the land allocation for Rehana and established Dhanmondi Police Station there. "We will construct apartments there for some of the families of the martyred army officers," Hasina had declared. The leader of the House also said the government would build apartments on the 2.72-acre cantonment plot being occupied by Khaleda, and allocate two apartments to each of the families of army officers slain in the BDR mutiny, should the opposition leader return the house. Each of the family can live in one flat and rent the other. Khaleda should give the house to the officers' families, Hasina had added. The prime minister said she checked the minutes of the June 12, 1981 cabinet meeting and found out that it did not allot the house to Khaleda. Instead, it allocated a house to her in Gulshan, Hasina added. Hasina alleged Khaleda was supposed to leave the Moinul Road house, rather she took the property in her name in addition to a house in Gulshan. Breach of terms alleged Khasru told the prime minister that the house was leased out to Khaleda for 99 years with some conditions including restrictions on political activities in the house. But, Khasru added, Khaleda breached the terms by carrying out political activities at the house, and the head office of Dandy Dyeing was set up there. The AL MP wanted to know whether the government would cancel the lease on breach of conditions. Hasina said the cantonment authorities cannot allocate the house to Khaleda, but they did so violating laws. Khaleda's family mortgaged the house to bank for loan in violation of the lease condition, she added. To a query of Jatiya Party MP Hafizuddin Ahmed, the prime minister said it was former president HM Ershad who was responsible for allocation of the Mainul Road house to Khaleda. "Ershad allotted the house to [Khaleda] violating law to make his bhabi (sister-in-law) (Khaleda) happy," Hasina said. She said the former prime minister was no more insolvent and in fact, now had crores of taka, and so, she should leave the house. The prime minister also referred to the assets statement Khaleda had submitted to the Anticorruption Commission and said: "We heard (former president) Ziaur Rahman left nothing for her family. "But the wealth statement filed shows Ziaur Rahman purchased land in Savar and Uttarkhan in Uttara. "Why should you, being a political leader, live in the cantonment? You were allotted another house on one-and-a-half-bigha land in Gulshan, why will you keep the army land?" The premier told the House about the facilities given to Khaleda and her two sons after the assassination of her husband. She was assigned one house in Gulshan and another in cantonment, she and her two sons got Tk 10 lakh, Tk 1,500 a month in bursary to facilitate studies of her sons until 1986, and one vehicle with fuel and a driver. Hasina said Khaleda was now living at the cantonment home renting the Gulshan house and was enjoying all other facilities. "But my sister and I did not take any state facilities," she pointed out. Hasina and Rehana lost most of their family including father, independence architect Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to a military putsch on Aug 15, 1975. Ershad lends support Similar arguments for Khaleda to surrender the house were made by Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad. "I think she (Khaleda) should leave the house for the sake of democracy," he told reporters in Rangpur, a day after prime minister Sheikh Hasina made the statement. "It is not right to run political activities in the cantonment. The cantonment is a restricted area. Acts of sabotage can be carried out if different kinds of people roam the place," said Ershad, another army chief-turned-president. "I, as the army chief, allotted her the house being concerned about her two sons. If I knew that she would pursue politics there I would not allot it to her." Zia moved in as deputy chief of staff The Zia family has been living in the house since the early 1970s. Ziaur Rahman, who was called by local politicians and broadcasters to read out a declaration of independence in late March 1971 on behalf of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and became one of the sector commanders in the bloody war that followed, soon shot in to prominence as a senior military figure in the free Bangladesh. Zia, made deputy of chief of staff to Maj Gen K M Shafiullah, found himself elevated to major general in just two years from a major in 1971. The family moved in to the sprawling bungalow then. The young general, then in late 30s, was propelled into virtual state power after the failed Nov 3-7 coup in 1975. Retired colonel Taher rescued him from captivity but was "rewarded" with a hurriedly pronounced and executed death sentence. Zia removed President A S M Sayem as chief martial law administrator in 1976, appointed himself to the post and then took over as head of state. The house became Sena Bhaban , the official residence of the chief of the army chief, when Zia was given the job. Even when he formally left the army and began functioning as a civilian president, he continued to occupy the army house. Before retiring, Zia had promoted himself to the rank of lieutenant general. His sudden departure from the scene when he was murdered by a group of alleged mutineers created a wave of national sympathy for the family. Known for his financial propriety, Zia apparently left nothing behind for his two sons—Tarique and Arafat Rahman— and widow Khaleda. In 1981, the BNP government led by Abdus Sattar gave away the nine-bigha house to her. In 1982, after his March 24 takeover, Lt Gen Ershad gifted the 1.5-bigha Gulshan house to ensure, as the former military ruler said on Thursday, a regular source of income for the family of his predecessor. bdnews24.com/pc/gna/1648h.