Hasina accuses interim govt of trying to bar her from polls

Criticising the "inhuman and undemocratic" restrictions on her movement, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday accused the military-backed interim government of trying to bar her from elections and destroy the political institutions in the country.

"A conspiracy is on to bar me from elections. We have the right to serve people and the people have the right to take our service," she told newsmen after Vietnamese envoy to Dhaka NGO Van Hoa met her here in a courtesy call on.

"Politics cannot be cleaned destroying political institutions," the Awami League chief said.

Hasina`s comments came a day after a Dhaka court issued an order barring her from going abroad as police said she was needed to stay home since two "extortion" cases were pending against her.

"When I was abroad it was said that there was a case against me and I cannot be allowed to come home on the plea that my return might hinder the investigations," she said.

But, it was now being said "if I go abroad the investigations will be hampered again. The matter isn`t clear to me at all," she said.

Hours ahead of the court order yesterday, the interim government barred her from visiting landslide-ravaged southeastern Chittagong on "security reasons".

In a written statement to the press read out in front of her residence by a fellow party leader, Hasina protested the government restriction as "inhuman, undemocratic and unjustified".

Hasina, who was scheduled to leave Dhaka for US later tonight to see her expecting daughter, however, told reporters she was yet to hear from the government about any travel ban but "I heard it from others that they won`t let me go for the sake of investigations into the two cases".

"I am not still sure I will be able to go. I have read in the newspapers that two more cases were filed against me," Hasina said.

Two Bangladeshi businessmen on Wednesday separately sued the former Premier on two "extortion" charges, alleging they were forced to pay her nearly Taka 8 crore while her party was in power from 1996 to 2001.

With the lodging of the two new cases, the former Premier now faces four such extortion charges, the first one being filed by the Bangladeshi owner of a Malaysian power plant more than two months ago.

Hasina is also facing a murder charge lodged by Jamaat-e-Islami, a crucial ally of her arch-rival Khaleda Zia`s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) alleging that she ordered the killing of six of their activists during a violent street clash last year.

Hasina termed the cases against her "absolutely false".

"I can say it on oath that I demanded nothing from anybody in my political career... I didn`t have to demand."

But, she said, donations were required to run a party and "it is the moral duty of those who support the Awami League to pay donations and the money is meant to run the party".

"There is a difference between donations and extortion. The government doesn`t seem to understand that."