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Bangladesh ex-PM returns after ban

DHAKA, Bangladesh (Reuters) -- "No one can stop me," former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina declared on Monday as she arrived in Dhaka after the military-backed government lifted a brief ban on her returning home.
Senior leaders of her Awami League greeted her but there was no mass reception at the capital's airport because of restrictions imposed under a state of emergency.
Witnesses said thousands of her followers stood outside the airport gate, chanting and waving banners.
Hasina was originally due to return home on April 19 after a holiday in the United States, where her son and daughter live, but she was stranded in London after the interim government ordered airlines and immigration to block her return.
The ban, imposed because the government said her return could trigger further street violence, was lifted six days later under intense local and international pressure.
"I am happy to be able to come back, after a period of uncertainties," Hasina told reporters. "This is my country, they cannot keep me from coming back, no one can stop me."
Hasina said she did not expect to be detained or put under house arrest. "They (government) had made a mistake by trying to block my return. I don't think they would make another mistake."
Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since Jan. 11 and parliamentary elections planned for Jan. 22 were cancelled by the interim government headed by former central bank governor Fakhruddin Ahmed.
Political activities were banned, and security forces have detained more than 160 senior political figures in an anti-graft hunt since then.
But Hasina's followers ignored the emergency ban on street rallies, marching with her returning motorcade, witnesses said.
Back home, Hasina laid wreaths at the portrait of her father and the country's independence leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, flanked by hundreds of party leaders and supporters.
Khaleda Zia 'confined'
Fakhruddin on Sunday reaffirmed plans to hold elections before the end of next year and pledged freedom for the media.
Hasina could be a major player in that vote, but she gave no hint of her plans on Monday. "I have just returned ... will talk to my party leaders and then take decisions about politics and other things," she said. "Let me rest a bit."
Hasina faces charges of extortion and abetting deaths during street fighting between activists of the Awami League and its rivals, Khaleda Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Hasina has denied the charges.
Khaleda and Hasina have alternated as prime minister of the south Asian country for 15 years since 1991, after they jointly led a people's revolt that toppled the country's last military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad.
They have remained foes ever since and have not spoken to each other for over a decade now. But in a surprise gesture, Khaleda on Monday welcomed Hasina's return to Bangladesh.
"Begum Khaleda Zia has welcomed the return of Sheikh Hasina ... thanked the government for lifting the ban on her," the BNP said in a statement.
The government denied media reports it had pressed Khaleda Zia, who ended a five-year term as prime minister last October, to go into exile while trying to keep Hasina out of the country.
But her political adviser told reporters on Sunday she was still confined at her home.
Lawyers said the High Court asked the government on Monday to explain within four weeks why Khaleda was not allowed to move freely and asked for phone lines to her home to be restored.
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posted by mhai @ 9:58 AM