Not legal to call Zia or Ershad as president: PM Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad are no longer presidents (of the country) as the apex court in a verdict announcing illegal capture of power by them declaring the martial law.

“It is not legal to call them (Ziaur Rahman and HM Ershad) as presidents in accordance with the High Court verdict as it has paved the way to continue the democracy in the country,” she said on Sunday (Sept 8).

The PM made the remarks after taking part in the discussion on an obituary motion taken by the parliament for deaths of dignitaries including opposition leader HM Ershad and Bangladesh National Awami Party (NAP) President Professor Muzaffar Ahmed and former lawmaker Sirajul Islam, state news agency BSS reports.

Praying for the peace of the departed soul of Ershad, Hasina said that nothing is left after the death of a people despite there were many things to say as they (Hasina and Awami League leaders and activists) were captured time and again and inhumanly tortured by the then Ershad government.

“Despite the fact, we have compromised with many things for the sake of the country, people, democracy, and development and are working for the overall development of the country to reach the fruit of the independence to the doorsteps of the people,” she said.

The PM also criticized Khaleda Zia as her government didn’t behave with Ershad properly while he was in jail, saying that the AL government has given possible every facility to the BNP chairperson, who is now in jail for a number of graft cases including misappropriation of money of orphans.

She said that Khaleda had created a scope for Ershad to capture power after the 1981 farcical general election which took place without voters and in exchange of it, Ershad gave Khaleda various facilities including two houses and Tk 1 million as well.

The PM, however, welcomed the BNP for joining the parliament after declaring it as illegal as the party along with others took part in the 2018 general elections. “People’s participation was in the 2018 general election, so the BNP couldn’t topple the Awami League government with the support of the people.”

“But, the Awami League with the support of the countrymen successfully overthrew the BNP government within one and a half month it assumed office after the farcical general election on Feb 15, 1996,” she said.

The PM went said saying that the trust and confidence of the people on the parliament have returned in the last 10 years.

“I believe that the confidence and trust of the people in parliament have returned in the last 10 years.”

Ershad’s JP “has been working as (main) opposition party after the general election of 2014, which is necessary for the socio-economic development of a country.

“Their (JP) contribution as the opposition has played a significant role to strengthen democracy as they are taking part in discussions on various bills alongside bringing amendments to those.”

Thus, the country has witnessed huge socio-economic development and achieved a dignified position in the world, she added.

Hasina also sought the peace of the departed soul of the late Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj for her role in placing the land boundary agreement before the Indian parliament which was passed unanimously.

Among others, Awami League lawmakers Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed, Mohammad Nasim, and Shahjahan Khan, while Jatiya Party lawmakers, Raushan Ershad, GM Quader, Moshiur Rahman Ranga, Kazi Firoz Rashid, Anisul Islam Mahmud, Fakhrul Imam, Mojibul Haq Chunnu,Peer Fazlur Rahman, Ahsan Adilur Rahman, Begum Salma Islam, Naz, Nazma Akhter, while BNP lawmaker Harun Ur Rashid, and Tarikad Federation lawmaker Syed Nazibul Basher Maijbhandari, took part in the discussion.