Hasina takes a swipe at Khaleda

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday in parliament said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia had illegally kept 60 kathas of military land in her possession during her stay in the cantonment house.
"Although the cantonment house was on 168 kathas of land, she had kept 228 kathas of land in her possession," Hasina, who also has the defence portfolio, said in her wrap-up speech to the seventh session of this parliament.
She also disclosed a voluminous list of Khaleda's household items kept in the controversial house, which Khaleda left on November 13.
Khaleda claimed she was forced out of the house illegally while the army said she left the house on her own.
Hasina mentioned the items Khaleda had already moved out of the house and the list of remaining things she wants back. Hasina then questioned the sources of the money with which those luxurious items were bought.
"Where did she [Khaleda] get the money to buy these valuables? Did she give income tax duly? I urge the finance minister to examine her income tax file," Leader of the House Hasina said.
"Even, many of the household belongings were purchased from abroad. Did she give tax while bringing in those costly items," Hasina said, adding that Khaleda must answer these questions.
The premier said she and Khaleda Zia submitted their wealth statements during the last caretaker government's rule. "Now the finance minister should examine the wealth statement whether there is similarity between the wealth mentioned in the statement and the costly household belongings," Hasina said.
She said Khaleda Zia lived a luxurious life in that house while the poor suffered.
Hasina said people were told that Ziaur Rahman had nothing but a broken suitcase and a torn T-shirt when he was assassinated in 1981. Considering the situation, the-then army chief HM Ershad allocated the cantonment house to Khaleda Zia, she said.
"How did she [Khaleda] earn so much money to live this luxurious life with the costly household items," Hasina said.
Hasina said Khaleda was also allocated another house of her choice in the posh Gulshan area on 32 kathas of land and she was supposed to move into that house. But she never left the cantonment house, the prime minister said.
Hasina said opposition BNP called hartal over the cantonment house issue causing sufferings to people.
Hasina said Ziaur Rahman lived in the house as the deputy chief of army staff and also as the country's president. Khaleda Zia also lived there while she was prime minister during her two terms and also as the opposition leader.
She said during these periods the house was renovated and decorated and many valuable items were installed with state money. Even the army authorities had to spend money to decorate the house with various valuables, Hasina said.
"Now question has been raised whether she is the owner of all those valuables and whether she bought those with her own money. If she had bought those, then where did she get the money," the premier said.
She said Khaleda already took some of her household items on 29 vehicles, including 14 large lorries in three days. She said Khaleda sent a list of items, which she had to leave behind but wishes have back.
"Certainly, these are very costly items. That's why she wants to have them back," she added.
The premier gave a brief description of the cantonment house. She said the house has 45 rooms, a dozen bathrooms and four kitchens.
She said Khaleda has already taken 45 air conditioning units out of 64, 12 televisions sets, including LCD panels, out of 20, eight refrigerators, including deep freezers, out of 17, 17 sofa sets out of 71, 10 geezers, tube lights, fans, show piece items and 7,200 square feet of carpet.
Hasina said, "I don't want to mention all those items she already taken to avoid wasting of time."
She said in the list of items Khaleda wants back, Khaleda mentioned things like sliding doors, Thai-aluminum glasses, iron-made grills, mosquito nets, commode, mirrors, wall racks, bookshelf, wooden doors, wood panels, basins, iron doorframes, showers, bathtubs, towel racks, wall closets, kitchen cabinets, water tanks, staircase guard rails, sliding doors etc.
"You will faint if you know the number of the items," Hasina said.
In her over-an-hour-long speech, Hasina described her government's various measures for the welfare of the people. She also spoke for decentralisation of power but opposed Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad's idea of splitting the country into seven provinces.
She said creation of provinces would cause additional expenditure but fail to achieve desired results. "Therefore, we want to strengthen the local government system…" she added.
SESSION PROROGUED
The seventh session, which began Sunday, was prorogued amid boycott of the BNP-led opposition lawmakers. In his winding up speech, Speaker Abdul Hamid urged opposition lawmakers to join the House in next session.
In a brief speech, Jatiya Party chief HM Ershad lauded the government's different activities. He, however, criticised the commerce minister for his failure to contain high price of edible oil.