12/31/13 Bangladesh' s former prime minister Khaleda Zia ' under house arrest' - Telegraph

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Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia 'under house arrest'
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's opposition leader, has been 'detained' in her home after calling
for protests against the country's general election on Sunday
Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader Khaleda Zia outside her Dhaka home on Sunday Photo: KHURSHED
RINKU/AP
By David Bergman, in Dhaka and Dean Nelson in New Delhi
2:09PM GMT 30 Dec 2013
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's former prime minister and main opposition leader, has been put under
house arrest, her aides said today as police surrounded her home in the capital Dhaka.
Leaders of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party said she had been prevented from leaving her house since
last Thursday after she called 'a rally for democracy' against Sheikh Hasina's Awami League
government, and in protest at her refusal to allow a caretaker government to preside over next
Sunday's general election.
The BNP and other main opposition parties have boycotted the election and the Commonwealth,
European Union and United States dealt a blow to its credibility when they refused to send observers.
12/31/13 Bangladesh' s former prime minister Khaleda Zia ' under house arrest' - Telegraph
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Western diplomats in Dhaka have voiced growing alarm over authoritarian measures taken by the
government to suppress opposition protests and have sought to visit Ms Zia to highlight their concern.
Britain's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Robert Gibson, is understood to have met the former
prime minister earlier on Monday.
Until Monday she has not been allowed to leave her home or receive visitors at her home which is
guarded by dozens of police, according to her aides, and blockaded by lorries.
"Khaleda Zia is most certainly interned in her house. The police don't allow people to come into or
out of her house," said Shamsher Mubin Chowdhury, a senior vice-chairman of the party.
He told The Daily Telegraph: "The authorities are not officially saying she is under house arrest but
for all practical purposes she is under house arrest."
Later on Monday, Mr Chowdhury himself was detained.
"Just after the British High Commision left Khaleda Zia's house, three of the BNP leader came out
and Shamsher got into his car and this was chased and then the car stopped and he was taken," his wife,
Shahidah Yasmin, told The Telegraph.
"Only he has been detained. He just called me from the phone and said that the detective branch had
taken him."
Lutful Kabir, deputy commissioner of Dhaka metropolitan police said the restrictions around Ms
Zia's home had been imposed on security grounds.
"A political movement has been launched by her party and the present government. This creates lots of
risk and it is down to the risk that we have this security," he said.
More than a thousand local BNP leaders had also been detained and earlier on Monday three of the
party's senior female leaders were arrested, including two members of parliament who were later
released. All transport into the capital was stopped as the authorities launched a "lockdown" to stop
opposition protests.
Two weeks earlier, the leader of the country's third largest party, former military ruler General
Ershad, was also detained when he was forcibly taken to a military hospital. His supporters said he had
been detained to force his party to contest the general election and bolster its credibility.
12/31/13 Bangladesh' s former prime minister Khaleda Zia ' under house arrest' - Telegraph
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Governments in Bangladesh have, until now, stepped down in favour of neutral caretaker
administrations in the run up to general elections. The country's opposition parties argue that no free
and fair election can take place in Bangladesh under a "political government" with its control of the
election commission, the administration and the police.
The election on January 5 will now only see contests between candidates from the governing Awami
League and its allies. In more than half of the 300 seats the Awami League candidate will not be
challenged.
The EU recently said that "the necessary conditions for transparent, inclusive and credible elections,"
were not present.
Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2013