The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday demanded of the Caretaker Government to hold the stalled general elections within May in order to transfer of power to the elected peoples' representatives as early as possible.

She alleged that the Caretaker Government had resorted to a dilly-dally tactics about holding the elections in the name of preparing the voter list.

"If the nation could achieve the independence in nine months, why should it take more than a year to prepare a voter list?" she posed the question, while talking to her lawyers at the makeshift Special Court in Parliament-building complex, where she appeared in Tk 3 crore Barge mounted corruption case yesterday.

Her Personal Assistant Dr Hasan Mahmud disclosed this after the postponement of the hearing by the Court.

He said Sheikh Hasina expressed deep concern about unabated price hike of essentials, which is hitting hard low-and middle-income groups of people.

"She termed the price hike as an obvious outcome of long emergency rule," he said.

Sheikh Hasina expressed her joy over the Wednesday's High Court judgment upon her writ petition that quashed a Tk 3 crore extortion case against her.

"The former Prime Minister said she will be acquitted of all the 'cooked-up cases' if the Judiciary could function independently, free from any interference," Hasan Mahmud said.

"This High Court verdict again proved that none can act against the Constitution which is the supreme law of the land," she was quoted to have told her lawyers.

Earlier, when the Court of Judge M Firoz Alam resumed at about 10:00am for charge framing hearing in Khulna barge-mounted power-plant corruption case, the Chief Prosecutor prayed for an adjournment of the trial to enable them to study documents of the case.

Granting the prosecution prayer, the Court fixed February 13 for the charge hearing.