The party of BangladeshÂ’s jailed former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia is on the verge of spliting after partymen said her decision to sack two top aides was unacceptable, officials said. Khaleda, the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested on Monday for alleged corruption along with her businessmen son, as part of a campaign launched by countryÂ’s army-backed interim administration to root out graft. Hours before her arrest, Khaleda sacked long-time party secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and his deputy Ashraf Hossain, saying the two men had acted against the partyÂ’s interests.
The charges referred to the two officials’ attempts in recent months to reform the BNP which had been tightly controlled by Khaleda, the country’s most recent prime minister. The reformers, backed by a large number of partymen, had sought to drastically reduce Khaleda’s powers. “We will take our own stand and make the party fully democratic and its leadership accountable,” Hossain told reporters.
Khaleda, who ended a five-year second term last October, is facing various charges of corruption and abuse of power, that is also blamed for the meteoric rise of her son and likely heir Tareque Rahman. Tareque is also in jail, awaiting trial by a special court.
President to stay: President Iajuddin Ahmed, whose five-year term expires on Wednesday, will continue as the country’s ceremonial head of state until an elected government replaces the present army-backed interim administration, a senior government official said. “This is quite in line with the constitution which says only an elected parliament can appoint a president,” Mainul Husein, law and information adviser to the caretaker government, told reporters late on Tuesday.
“As per the constitution, he has to continue until the election of his successor.” Iajuddin, 76, a former Dhaka University teacher, was appointed president on Sept 5, 2002, by then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, who ended her five-year tenure in October last year. Although Bangladesh’s presidency is largely a figurehead post, Iajuddin is the constitutional head of the country’s armed forces.
After Khaleda stepped down, Iajuddin briefly took over as head of a caretaker government responsible for holding the next election. But he relinquished the job in favour of incumbent caretaker chief Fakhruddin Ahmed, a former central bank governor and the armyÂ’s choice. Fakhruddin took charge in January this year. Since then, he has run the country with the armyÂ’s backing and under a state of emergency.