DHAKA: Former Bangladeshi prime minister and opposition leader Khaleda Zia on Monday today booked for sedition over her alleged “slanderous comments” concerning martyrs of the 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
“The case has been filed against her at the chief metropolitan magistrate’s court (Dhaka) this morning along with prayers seeking her arrest,” a court official told PTI.
He said that the magistrate ordered hearing on the prayer seeking the arrest warrant later today.
Speaking at a discussion on December 21 last year, 70-year-old Ms Zia had “expressed doubts” about the casualty figures of the 1971 liberation war.
“There are controversies over how many were martyred in the Liberation War. There are also many books and documents on the controversies,” she had said.
Ms Zia’s BNP is a crucial ally of fundamentalist Jamaat-e- Islami, which was opposed to Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan.
The ruling Awami League, 1971 veterans and members of the martyred families had sharply reacted to Ms Zia’s comments with some of them even calling her as the “agent of Pakistan”.
Today’s development came a day after the Home Ministry gave its clearance to move the sedition case against the ex-premier.
Supreme Court lawyer Mamtaz Uddin Ahmed Mehedi on December 27 had sought Zia be tried for sedition in the court under section 123 (A) of the country’s Penal Code.
This story was originally published in NDTV.
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