Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
yesterday said the army would not play the role of "a silent spectator while people are getting killed" and that it would "play its role in due time".
She said members of the armed forces would not be picked for peacekeeping missions if there was unrest in Bangladesh. "But if there was no peace in Bangladesh, foreigners would then say that the army is not capable of maintaining peace in other countries."
Speaking at a rally at Matidahali intersection in Bogra on her way to Joypurhat, she said, "The army is a part of our country and therefore it has responsibilities towards it."
Citing police firing during the violence between February 28 and March 3, which left 18 people dead in Bogra and Joypurhat, the BNP chairperson said, "I thank the army personnel as they went out on the roads [of Bogra] on that day [March 3] but did not open fire on people like the police had done."
Khaleda said if necessary, the country would be crippled in order to oust the Sheikh Hasina
...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...-led "most autocratic, bloodthirsty, killer and most corrupt government".
She said her party would declare fresh agitation programmes today to oust the government as well as to "save the people of the country". The fresh agitation would start after March 26, she added.
She urged all to ensure success of the programmes through spontaneous participation.
The BNP chief said, "The prime minister must be brought to book and she [Hasina] must be made accountable for the killing of people and for the BDR carnage.
"She [Sheikh Hasina] thinks she will cling to power at any cost or flee. We are hearing many things ... we have all the documents related to your [Hasina] widespread corruption and killings ... where will you go? You will be tracked down in any corner of the globe and you will be put in the dock."
On Saturday afternoon, Khaleda left Dhaka on a two-day visit to Bogra and Joypurhat. She plans to visit the bereaved family members of people who died during the violence.