Government responsible for Hasina's safety, says aide

The Awami League leadership said yesterday that the alliance government must ensure that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has foolproof security, or be solely responsible for any risk to her life.

"We are concerned over the government's deliberate attempt to withdraw security and leave Sheikh Hasina vulnerable. There must be some deep conspiracy behind this," said Awami League presidium member, Abdus Samad Azad, at the party's central office on Tuesday.

Pointing out that Hasina was leader of the opposition, he charged the authorities with refusing to deploy security at her residence, although payment has been made according to the rules.

Earlier, Azad said, the alliance government had withdrawn special security for Hasina, and even removed metal detectors at a time "when BNP-Jamaat activists were issuing open threats to stage another August 15 (the day Hasina's father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and most of his family members were killed in 1975.)"

He pointed out that instead of taking steps to complete the trial of Sheikh Mujibur's killers, the government is bringing the accused out of prison and plans to send those who have been awarded death sentences abroad "in the name of treatment".

On January 21, Azad alleged, Hasina was barred from attending the Akheri Munajat (final prayer) of Biswa Ijtema at Tongi and forced to take an alternate route to attend the prayer after being detained for about an hour.

"It proves that the government is posing a threat to the life of Sheikh Hasina and pushing her into the path of a bullet by taking an indifferent attitude towards the murder case, bringing out the convicts from jail and releasing other accused," he said.

Earlier, Hasina's private secretary had written a letter to the Dhaka District Ansar Adjutant seeking deployment of security at her Dhanmondi house.

Following the letter, the deputy commissioner of police requested the Ansar authorities to deploy two sections of Ansar at her residence. He also filed a report of a deputy commissioner of police who suggested the deployment of Ansar to ensure security of Hasina.

Later, the opposition leader's office asked for one section of Ansar and deposited Tk82,728 as three months' advance salary for the Ansar personnel and requested the authorities for deployment of the auxiliary force.

But declining to deploy Ansar, the District Ansar Adjutant in a letter quoted DMP Commiss-ioner as saying that it would not be logical to deploy armed Ansar considering the importance of security at the residence of the leader of the opposition.