The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cleared a sedition case against Khaleda Zia , for her comments on the number of people killed in the 1971 Liberation War.
“We received a letter on this issue. We have issued a guideline,” home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the media yesterday.
Asked whether the BNP chairperson would be arrested after the case was filed, he said: “Everything will be done according to the law.”
Kamal, who was speaking to reporters after a programme at the Film Development Corporation, hurried out the venue before any more questions could be put to him.
Plaintiff Momtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi told newsmen that he might move the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court of Dhaka as early as today to ensure the court takes cognisance.
Speaking at a discussion on December 21 last year, the BNP chairperson expressed doubts about the government’s claims that nearly 3mn people died during the 1971 Liberation War.
She also alleged that Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wanted to be the prime minister of undivided Pakistan rather than lead the country to independence.
On December 23, lawyer Mehedi served a legal notice on the former prime minister, asking her to issue an “unconditional apology” within seven days or face legal consequences.
With the notice yielding no reply, Mehedi filed a petition last week with the home ministry seeking clearance to file a sedition case, which was approved on January 21.
“I sought a filing of the case under Section 196 (prosecution for offences against the State) of the Penal Code. The home ministry permitted the filing of a sedition case,” he said.
He said that he would move the court seeking cognisance of the case under Sections 123 A and 124 B of the penal code.
The law treats as an offence against the state anything that is said, in speech or in writing, against the creation of Bangladesh and its sovereignty.
The maximum punishment for the offence is 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment along with a fine.
Khaleda’s remarks have created a furor, but BNP leaders have been backing her.
“I think her statement is a timely one. For 42 years, we have been saying that 3mn people have died, but do not have any information on them. It’s an unfortunate thing for the nation,” the BNP chief’s legal adviser Khandker Mahbub Hossain said yesterday.
He also claimed that Khaleda’s remarks did not constitute sedition.
Jatiya Party (JP) Chairman and former Bangladesh President HM Ershad has turned down the call of leader of the opposition in parliament and party’s senior presidium member Begum Raushan Ershad, also his wife,  to “reconsider” his decision to revamp top posts.
“There’s no chance I will change my decision,” Ershad said in a letter sent to Raushan Ershad yesterday responding to her statement made earlier on Saturday.
Raushan, in her statement, termed “undemocratic” party chief HM Ershad’s decisions to make his brother GM Quader the party’s co-chairman and change the party’s secretary general.
She also hoped that Ershad would revise his decisions in the interest of the party’s greater unity and making it more organised and strong.
“As senior presidium member you can request party chairman for consideration of your call. That’s your organisational rights. But I’m sorry as I couldn’t consider your proposal in the interest of the party. I hope you’ll also consider overall situation,” the JP chief wrote.
He assured Raushan that there would be no “conflict and disunity” in the party and said they would to take the party forward in a united manner.
“You’re leading the parliamentary team, I’m in party leadership. Our joint efforts will help party march ahead in the coming days,” Ershad wrote.
The JP chairman also thanked Raushan for removing the “confusion” over the “acting chairman” issue as she said the issue of making her Jatiya Party acting chairman was not discussed in party’s joint meeting.
Reminding her of party’s organisational structure, Ershad said there is no necessity to take opinion from any wing other than presidium wing in taking party decision and implementation.  Earlier, Ershad at a press conference at the party’s Rangpur office named his younger brother GM Quader as the party’s co-chairman.
Opposing Ershad’s decision, JP presidium member and then secretary general Ziauddin Bablu named Raushan the acting chairman of the party the following day.
Bablu claimed that the decision was taken at a joint meeting of the party’s presidium and parliamentary party members at Raushan’s residence.
Aggrieved at Bablu’s move, Ershad at an emergency press conference at his Banani office on Tuesday removed Bablu as the party secretary general and replaced him with Ruhul Amin Howlader.