Arrest warrant issued against Khaleda

A Dhaka court today issued arrest warrant against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a case filed over undermining the country's map and national flag.

Metropolitan Magistrate Nur Nabi passed the order as Khaleda Zia failed to appear before the court even though the court asked her repeatedly to attend today’s hearing.

The court also directed the officer-in-charge of Gulshan Police Station to submit a report by November 12 on execution of the arrest warrant.

After AB Siddique, president of Bangladesh Jananetri Parishad, a pro-Awami League organisation, submitted a petition seeking an arrest warrant for Khaleda on September 17, the same court warned Khaleda of arrest warrant if she fails to appear before it today.

Siddique on November 3 last year filed the case with the court, accusing Khaleda and her late husband and former president Ziaur Rahman of undermining the country's map and national flag.

According to the case statement, Zia had taken over as the country's president after the killing of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of his family members on August 15, 1975. He also threatened Hasina and confined her after she arrived in the country from abroad on May 17, 1981.

Khaleda had formed a coalition government with Jamaat-e-Islami in 2001. She appointed ministers from the party and handed over the map and the national flag of independent Bangladesh to them even though they fought against the country during the Liberation War, the statement read.

Those activities were tantamount to undermining the country's map and national flag, it added.

Source: thedailystar