After her release from the sub-jail, our former prime minister Sheikh Hasina travelled by a BA flight to London, on her way to the USA for treatment, but not by Biman , the National Flag Carrier. This is just normal for the former prime minister. It is on record that she never travelled by Biman while travelling abroad privately at her own cost. But in contrast to this, during her tenure as the prime minister she travelled throughout by Biman, since it used to be at state cost and with very special arrangements organised by the national airline.
Once she showed her utmost disdain to the national airline, when she visited Bahrain to offer condolences to the bereaved royal family members of the late Amir of Bahrain. Biman had a scheduled flight to Kuwait and Bahrain on the day of her departure, but she turned down the proposal of the airline to travel by the passenger flight and opted to travel to/from Bahrain exclusively by another DC-10 aircraft. No wonder, Biman is at this stage today!
This also reminds me how disgusting it was to watch when on her return from the USA, after attending her son's marriage with an American citizen, she boldly and proudly told the media at ZIA that her daughter-in-law was a number one American and not number two!Leave the ex prime minister alone, all our high profile civil servants and the dignitaries always try to avoid Biman, while travelling abroad at state cost. They feel proud to travel by foreign carriers. Such is their complex and love for the country! I think like in K.S.A, our government also should make it mandatory for the officials, both civil and military, to travel by Biman, whenever the state takes care of their travel expenses,
I only hope our politicians, MPs and other dignitaries would adhere to what they preach for others i.e., love for the country. A true politician has to have the basic quality of sincerely loving the country and the people.
In this regard, I have got no opportunity to comment on the other former prime minister Begum Zia since she never travelled abroad privately except soon after assuming power when she in a body travelled to New York for treatment of her knees at the cost of the state exchequer, which she could have easily avoided.
I only hope our leaders would take their lessons after all this turmoil and set examples of honesty and integrity and thus earn public confidence.