Special security for Hasina to be withdrawn

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, NOV. 28. The Khaleda Zia Government has decided to repeal a significant act of the previous Awami League Government that provided special security to the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and Sheikh Rehena the two surviving daughters of the country's slain founding-father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on Tuesday which endorsed a new Bill, `The Father of the Nation Family Members Security Bill (Repeal) Act, 2001.' The Bill is likely to be passed in the current session of Parliament, which was extended till December 2, newspapers reported.

The Special Security Bill was adopted in the last Parliament on the basis of the argument that their lives were under constant threat from the killers of their father, who was assassinated in 1975 along with most of their family members.

It was argued that the law was necessary after many plots on the life of Sheikh Hasina were unearthed during her last tenure and the High Court upheld a trial court verdict awarding death penalty to 12 former Army officers in the assassination case. Eight of the convicts are still at large.

To provide security to Mujib's daughters, the previous Government also allocated `Ganobhaban', now the Prime Minister's residence, to Sheikh Hasina, which she had vacated before the election. The Khaleda Government, however, cancelled the allocation. Sheikh Rehena was also given an abandoned house in Dhaka but she does not use it.

Under the Special Security Act, the Special Security Force (SSF) which has been looking after Sheikh Hasina's security till now will be withdrawn, while the former President, Mr. Justice Shahabuddin Ahmed, and the former caretaker Government chief, Mr. Justice Latifur Rahman, will be getting SSF security as per the provision enacted by the outgoing interim Government which conducted the October 1 general election.

The Cabinet decision has evoked strong protest from the Awami League and its sympathisers, calling it a ``blueprint'' for taking the life of Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehena. ``The BNP- Jamaat alliance, which captured power through an election of blueprint, is now poised to implement the blueprint of killing the daughters of the father of the nation,'' said the Awami League general secretary and former Minister, Mr. Zillur Rahman, in a statement.

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