Wait for warrant to reach police

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia would be arrested and her Gulshan office searched the moment police received warrants to that end, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the House yesterday.

"As soon as the arrest and search warrants reach the Gulshan Police Station, steps will be taken … ," Hasina said replying to supplementary questions from Awami League lawmakers AFM Bahauddin Nasim, MA Awal and Shafiqul Islam Shimul during the prime minister's question-answer session.

Hasina, also the leader of the House, said, "This is just a matter of time. The day is not far away."

Saying that people of the country also wanted this, the PM added, "Whatever people want will happen."

A Dhaka court on February 25 issued warrants of arrest against Khaleda in the Zia Orphanage Trust and the Zia Charitable Trust graft cases filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.

On March 1, another court issued a warrant allowing police to search Khaleda's Gulshan office for communication devices allegedly being used for carrying out subversive activities across the country.

Hasina said Khaleda did not obey the laws of the land and had created a bad precedence by disobeying the court order.

"It is the duty of every citizen to surrender before the court when an arrest warrant is issued against them. According to established norms and rules around the globe, responsible citizens will comply with the court order," she observed.

She said the law would take its own course and none was above the law. "The orders have come from the courts and the government and the law-enforcement agencies will act accordingly," she noted.

Hasina, also president of ruling Awami League, said the political office of Khaleda should be searched urgently. "This is a mystery why she is staying at her office leaving her home," she said.

The premier reiterated her firm commitment to bring all the culprits responsible for killing people through arson attacks during the BNP-Jamaat's ongoing hartals and blockade.

Terming Khaleda a "militant leader", the PM said, "It seems she [Khaleda] wants to establish a militant rule in the country. That is why she is burning people and destroying their properties in a bid to make Bangladesh a failed state."

She said there would be no room for militants in the country.

Hasina said people of the country had rejected BNP-Jamaat's "burning and killing people through petrol bombs" and for this leaders and activists of Khaleda's own party were not with her now.

Khaleda had tarnished the image of Bangladesh globally by doing such subversive activities, Hasina alleged.