Court issues warrant for Khaleda over celebrating birthday on Aug 15

An arrest warrant is out for BNP chief Khaleda Zia in a case filed over her celebrating birthday on Aug 15, the day Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was killed in 1975.

Court Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Nov 2016, 06:06 AM
Updated : 17 Nov 2016, 06:12 AM

The court of Dhaka's Metropolitan Magistrate Mazharul Islam ordered her arrest on Thursday.

On Aug 30 this year, Gazi Zahirul Islam, a former joint general secretary of Dhaka Union of Journalists, filed the complaint with the court.

The same day the court ordered Khaleda Zia to appear before it on Oct 17.

But the former prime minister did not attend the hearing, after which the plaintiff petitioned for her arrest.

The court heard the matter on Thursday and issued a warrant, said lawyer Dulal Mitra, who represents the plaintiff.

It also told police to file an update over the warrant on Mar 2.

The plaintiff alleges that Khaleda's intent to celebrate her birthday on Aug 15 was to 'undermine Bangabandhu.'

Copies of Khaleda’s passport, marriage certificate, school leaving exam’s mark sheet as well as a 1991 news report on her biography ran by national daily ‘Dainik Bangla’ have been submitted to the court when the complaint was filed.

The BNP celebrates the birthday every year on this day, the same day Bangabandhu Shiekh Mujibur Rahman and most of his family members were brutally killed in 1975.

She had been celebrating the birthday by cutting cake at her Gulshan office in the first hours in past years.

The former premier, however, decided to avoid ceremonies this year "considering the floods in the country and oppression by the government".

But the party held a special prayer (Milad) at the Naya Paltan headquarters this year.

She has been facing criticism for commemorating her birthday on Aug 15, the National Mourning Day, as there is great confusion about when she was actually born.

Khaleda's father Iskandar Majumder, originally from Feni, was a resident of Dinajpur. Khaleda was born there. Her mother was Tayeba Majumder.

Khaleda married Ziaur Rahman, then a captain of the Pakistan Army, in August 1960. Zia fought as a sector commander in the 1971 Liberation War.

But in the aftermath of the Bangabandhu's assassination and a coup in 1975, which was followed by several more, Zia managed to capture power and emerge as the country's first military dictator.

The assassination of Zia in May 1981 propelled Khaleda, who was a housewife until then, into the political hot seat. She began as the party's vice-chairman and in 1984, became the chairperson.

Khaleda played a major role in the movement against another military dictator HM Ershad, now a Special Envoy to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

The BNP chairperson’s role was crucial in creating a popular base for the party, which was born in the cantonment, say political analysts.

The party won the 1991 elections and Khaleda became the first female prime minister of Bangladesh. She was also prime minister for a brief period after a controversial election in February 1996.

In 2001, the BNP-led coalition won the election and she once again became the prime minister. In the 2008 elections, she, however, sat in Parliament as the Leader of the Opposition.

As her party boycotted the Jan 5, 2014 elections, Khaleda lost her seat in Parliament for the first time in 24 years, thus losing her state protocol.