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(PHOTO: Jerome Taylor)
Published The Independent: 27 April 2007
By Jerome Taylor
Wearing her familiar rimless spectacles and sipping tea from a china cup, Sheikh Hasina Wazed doesn't immediately live up to her billing as one of Bangladesh's two "battling Begums".
But the fiery, populist leader has the ability to call millions of supporters on to the streets of Dhaka, and it is her bitter hatred of her political rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, that has paralysed her country and allowed the military to step in.
Now those rivalries will have to be put aside for, according to Sheikh Hasina, the army is shutting down democracy in their country and risks turning the world's third largest Muslim nation into a dictatorship similar to Pakistan's.
Speaking during a temporary exile in London, she warned that unless the military-backed caretaker government holds fair elections soon, the patience of the Bangladeshi people could run out.
"At the moment, there is no democracy in Bangladesh at all," she said. "They have gagged the press and have yet to hold elections. I don't know what will happen but the people will not wait forever. Once the people come out on to the street, I don't know how long their patience will last."
Her remarks came as the military-backed government was forced this week to make an embarrassing climb-down and abandon its plans to exile Sheikh Hasina and her rival, Ms Zia.
Last weekend, Sheikh Hasina, who ran Bangladesh as prime minister between 1996-2001, found herself marooned in London after the caretaker government issued a note to all airlines forbidding them from allowing her onto any flights to Dhaka.
Ms Zia, who stepped down as prime minister last year, was placed under house arrest and many said she would be forced to go into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The military-backed government, which took power in January and suspended the coming elections, argued the measures were needed to clean up Bangladeshi politics, after months of violent protests between supporters of Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia's parties left more than 45 dead and brought the country to a standstill.
But suggestions the military were hoping to completely remove the two leaders from Bangladeshi politics met strong domestic and international criticism, and yesterday restrictions against Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia were lifted.
Many remain concerned the stifling of popular mainstream parties could turning Bangladesh into something resembling Pakistan, which is still waiting for democracy eight years after the military took control.
Sheikh Hasina warned the military against any such move: "I think some quarters [of the army] were encouraged by the Pakistani model, but Bangladesh is totally different, our society and people won't let it happen," she said.
Sheikh Hasina's relationship with the military has been a turbulent one. Her father, the founder of modern Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated with her mother and three brothers in 1975 after army officers took power in a coup. Democratic forces eventually overthrew the military in 1991 but, since then, politics has been dominated by the rivalry between Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia, a rivalry which rarely brings peaceful elections and has turned Bangladesh into one of the world's most corrupt countries.
And when she returns to Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina faces murder charges over the deaths of five opposition activists during violent protests last year.
"I am ready to face them, even if they arrest me," she said. "I have faith that the law will take its own course. I have been in jail before but I learnt from my father to face any situation."
But the fiery, populist leader has the ability to call millions of supporters on to the streets of Dhaka, and it is her bitter hatred of her political rival, Begum Khaleda Zia, that has paralysed her country and allowed the military to step in.
Now those rivalries will have to be put aside for, according to Sheikh Hasina, the army is shutting down democracy in their country and risks turning the world's third largest Muslim nation into a dictatorship similar to Pakistan's.
Speaking during a temporary exile in London, she warned that unless the military-backed caretaker government holds fair elections soon, the patience of the Bangladeshi people could run out.
"At the moment, there is no democracy in Bangladesh at all," she said. "They have gagged the press and have yet to hold elections. I don't know what will happen but the people will not wait forever. Once the people come out on to the street, I don't know how long their patience will last."
Her remarks came as the military-backed government was forced this week to make an embarrassing climb-down and abandon its plans to exile Sheikh Hasina and her rival, Ms Zia.
Last weekend, Sheikh Hasina, who ran Bangladesh as prime minister between 1996-2001, found herself marooned in London after the caretaker government issued a note to all airlines forbidding them from allowing her onto any flights to Dhaka.
Ms Zia, who stepped down as prime minister last year, was placed under house arrest and many said she would be forced to go into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The military-backed government, which took power in January and suspended the coming elections, argued the measures were needed to clean up Bangladeshi politics, after months of violent protests between supporters of Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia's parties left more than 45 dead and brought the country to a standstill.
But suggestions the military were hoping to completely remove the two leaders from Bangladeshi politics met strong domestic and international criticism, and yesterday restrictions against Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia were lifted.
Many remain concerned the stifling of popular mainstream parties could turning Bangladesh into something resembling Pakistan, which is still waiting for democracy eight years after the military took control.
Sheikh Hasina warned the military against any such move: "I think some quarters [of the army] were encouraged by the Pakistani model, but Bangladesh is totally different, our society and people won't let it happen," she said.
Sheikh Hasina's relationship with the military has been a turbulent one. Her father, the founder of modern Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated with her mother and three brothers in 1975 after army officers took power in a coup. Democratic forces eventually overthrew the military in 1991 but, since then, politics has been dominated by the rivalry between Sheikh Hasina and Ms Zia, a rivalry which rarely brings peaceful elections and has turned Bangladesh into one of the world's most corrupt countries.
And when she returns to Dhaka, Sheikh Hasina faces murder charges over the deaths of five opposition activists during violent protests last year.
"I am ready to face them, even if they arrest me," she said. "I have faith that the law will take its own course. I have been in jail before but I learnt from my father to face any situation."
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