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Lawyer asked to arbitrate between ex-PMs
The interim government of Bangladesh has asked a top lawyer to arrange talks between the country's "battling begums", the nickname given to the two feuding women who have alternated as prime minister for the past 15 years.
- Agencies
- Published: 23:52 September 15, 2008
Dhaka: The interim government of Bangladesh has asked a top lawyer to arrange talks between the country's "battling begums", the nickname given to the two feuding women who have alternated as prime minister for the past 15 years.
Hussain Zillur Rahman, who as a special "adviser" is effectively a minister, said late on Sunday that barrister Rafiqul Haque, a former attorney general, had been asked to arrange a meeting between Shaikh Hasina and Begum Khalida Zia, who have barely spoken to each other for many years.
The pair respectively head the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the country's dominant political groups.
Khalida was released on bail on Thursday after a year in detention on corruption charges while Hasina spent a year in jail on similar charges before being given medical parole in June to seek treatment in United States. Rafiqul Haque is defending both women in their ongoing trials.
Rafiqul last week independently advised the pair to put aside their mutual acrimony and mistrust for the good of the country, but close associates of Hasina have insisted Khalida must first apologise for "trying to kill her" and also to the nation for years of misrule.
"Before any talks are planned, Khalida must apologise," said Suranjit Sengupt, a senior Awami leader and Hasina's former parliamentary affairs secretary.
He was referring to a 2004 grenade attack on Hasina's rally in Dhaka which killed 23 people and wounded over 150. Khalida was prime minister at the time.
Khalida and Hasina alternated as prime minister for over 15 years until 2006, most of the time barely speaking to each other.
The formidable pair, both heirs to political dynasties, are known as the "battling begums", a reference to their honorifics as Muslim women of rank.
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