AL awaits govt clearance for Hasina’s return on April 23

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The Awami League on Tuesday requested the interim government to ensure security of its president Sheikh Hasina who, the party said, is scheduled to fly home on April 23.
A two-member delegation of the party on behalf of the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil, met the communications adviser, M A Matin, also chairman of national coordination committee at his office in the afternoon and called for ensuring proper security for Hasina.
The delegation comprising deputy publicity secretary of the party Ashim Kumar Ukil and its deputy office secretary BM Mozammel Haque, handed a letter, signed by the party general secretary, over to the adviser. The letter stated that the AL president would arrive on the morning of April 23.
‘The Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina will return home on April 23 and we request the government to ensure her security properly,’ said the letter, adding that the government earlier had curtailed the security of Hasina before her departure for the US.
The AL delegation informed the adviser that the security of Hasina was cut down before her departure and almost withdrawn from her residence on March 27 after she left the country on March 15.
‘The adviser assured us he would consider the matter and let the party general secretary know about it later,’ delegation member Mozammel Haque told New Age after the meeting.
He also said that the AL president was scheduled to arrive at the Zia International Airport by a British Airways flight at 5:30am on April 23.
After the meeting the adviser told reporters that the AL sought security for its president, informing him that she would return home on April 23 and requested him to take necessary measures in this regard. ‘I will talk to the home ministry since it is a security issue,’ Matin said.
The AL leaders on Monday decided to communicate the matter to the communications adviser. Earlier, Hasina informed the party general secretary about her return on April 23 and instructed him to communicate it to the government.
Senior leaders of the party, however, said that they were still confused and not sure about the return of Hasina on April 23, particularly following the developments centring her rival, the BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia.
‘When the government is reportedly sending the chairperson of a major party into exile, I think it may not allow the president of the other major party to return home at the moment,’ a senior presidium member of the AL told New Age, adding that the possibility of her arrival on April 23 was very slim.
Talking to New Age the AL general secretary, Abdul Jalil, said ‘the scheduled date of her [Hasina] return will remain unchanged, if there are no further disruptions by this time.’
AL presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said, ‘the date of her [Hasina] return will be set after a fruitful contact [with the government]’, Suranjit told New Age, adding that the party was trying to set up a fruitful communication with the government on the issue

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