Bangladesh News

Detained former premier Sheikh Hasina yesterday put out a call to the government to immediately stop the ongoing ‘mass arrests’, and to work for making the ongoing politico-electoral dialogues and announced elections successful instead.

“Mass arrests are going on like governments of the past used to do, to harass leaders and activists of Awami League, which is pushing the country towards a confrontation. The government should take lessons from the past…Otherwise they will face the same fate the previous governments faced,” Advocate Kamrul Islam, a counsel of the detained Awami League (AL) president, quoted her as saying after a hearing on charge framing in the MiG-29 purchase scam case against her and six others.

Kamrul also said Hasina told her lawyers that when the people started to raise their voices after becoming fed up with the last 18 months’ activities of the government, it started rounding people up. Movements cannot be suppressed through mass arrests, he quoted Hasina as saying.

Meanwhile, Judge Golam Mortuza Majumder of the Special Court for Dhaka Division set up on the premises of the parliament building in the capital, deferred the hearing on charge framing in the case till June 11 following yesterday’s proceedings.

The court also extended the duration of the bail for former army chief Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman, an accused in the case, till the next hearing, following a petition by defence counsels.

Hasina was produced in the court at 9:45am. All the seven accused were present in the court during yesterday’s hearing.

During the hearing, the court witnessed a heated row between the defence and the prosecution over the latter’s disclosure of a defence intelligence report, after Public Prosecutor ABM Sharfuddin Khan Mukul presented a military intelligence report before the court.

He told the court that the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) discouraged and raised objections to the purchase of MiG-29 warplanes as the purchase was unnecessary and was done by wasting state funds.

Raising an objection, the defence asked the prosecution why the DGFI report was presented. Defence lawyer Syed Rezaur Rahman asked the public prosecutor whether DGFI disclosed the report without being asked for it.

At that time, former army chief Gen (retd) Mustafizur Rahman stood up in the dock and asked the prosecutor to say who was the chief of DGFI during the time in question.

Echoing the former army chief, Hasina also raised questions about the propriety of making the defence intelligence agency’s report public.

“It should be questioned whether the report prepared by an intelligence agency can be produced before the court and made public in this manner. As a former head of the government, I may raise the matter for legal clarification,” Hasina told the court.

The judge then asked the prosecutor to explain, but the prosecutor had no answer.

After the debate, the public prosecutor read out the report to the court and said expensive MiG-29 warplanes were not a necessity for the country’s air force, since impoverished countries like Bangladesh just cannot afford the cost of maintaining those aircraft.

An AL government led by Sheikh Hasina purchased eight high-end MiG-29 warplanes causing losses of hundreds of crores of taka to the state, he said.

The prosecution appealed to the court to frame charges against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Hasina said she was concerned about protecting the country’s independence and sovereignty, and that is why she purchased the warplanes for the state’s air force.

Explaining the reasons behind the purchase of the supersonic warplanes, she said, “Our military policy is defensive, but we have to protect ourselves if the nation comes under attack. And I purchased the warplanes for the sake of our protection. Is it a criminal offence? If I am to stand in the dock for this offence then I am worried about the independence and sovereignty of our country.”

She also said it is the responsibility of a government to well equip a country’s armed forces including the air force, to protect the country’s independence and sovereignty.

“If the public prosecutor questions the purchase of an essential instrument for national safeguard, then we all should be worried about our sovereignty,” she added.

The defence counsels told the court that there is no credible evidence for framing charges against their client, Hasina.

Later, talking to reporters, defence counsel Barrister Shafique Ahmed said the quoted price for the 8 Mig-29 aircraft was US$ 289 million but the government led by Hasina bargained it down to $115 million through state-to-state negotiations, saving a large amount of money for the state.

He said the defence asked the prosecutor to produce the price quotation in the tender document, but they did not agree to show.

Prosecution lawyer Advocate Syed Shamim Ahsan said the warplanes were purchased with cash money breaking laws and causing a huge loss to the state, while the erstwhile Hasina government was supposed to buy those with 10 to 20 percent cash payment, and the rest of the payment was supposed to be made through exporting goods to the seller country.

Regarding the intelligence report, he said the report was collected because the case needs it as evidence.

The now-defunct Bureau of Anti-corruption (Bac) filed the case against Hasina and six others with Tejgaon police station on December 11, 2001, accusing them of causing a loss of Tk 700 crore to the national exchequer by purchasing the eight MiG-29 jets while Hasina was the premier of the country.

Later in the afternoon, Hasina was taken to Square Hospital from a makeshift special jail for a medical check up, reported UNB.

DIG (Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique said a four-member panel of specialist physicians examined her ears and eyes.

The DIG quoted eye specialist Dr Shah Alam as saying that the former premier has developed an allergy in her eyes due to not taking a prescribed medicine.

Other doctors on the board were ENT specialist Dr Shahil Mahmud, Dr Sarwari Alam and Dr Mizanur Rahman.

The doctors said Hasina’s overall health condition is good but the problem with her hearing remains unchanged.

“It was a routine check up,” the DIG said.

Hasina was taken to the hospital at 3:20pm and was transported back to the jail around 5:30pm.