Hasina ignores ultimatum to resign

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, MARCH 31. The ultimatum issued by the Bangladesh Opposition alliance for the resignation of the Sheikh Hasina Government expired on Friday without any significant development. Ironically, it was the Opposition which suffered a setback with Gen. H.M. Ershad's Jatiya Party distancing itself from the alliance.

The wife of Gen. Ershad, Begum Raushan Ershad, MP, attended the Parliament session on Thursday along with 19 other party MPs, defying a ban imposed by the alliance. While the move was welcomed by the ruling Awami League, it has angered the alliance in which Gen. Ershad was a leading voice until last month.

Following the turnaround in the Jatiya Party's stance, the discord that had surfaced in the party during the past two weeks, led to a split. The faction controlled by the ``expelled'' party secretary general, Mr. Nazir Rahman Manzoor, in turn ``expelled'' Begum Raushan Ershad and Gen. Ershad's brother, Mr. G. M. Quader, MP, from the party and appointed Dr. M.A. Matin as the new party leader.

Gen. Ershad's snapping of ties with the Opposition has dashed the alliance's hopes of putting up a united challenge to the Awami League in the general elections.

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Section  : International
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