The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, London

Awami League president and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has demanded immediate elections to parliament before the upazila parishad polls to "rescue people from a disastrous condition."

"Democracy must be restored. There is no alternative to the rule of the elected representatives," she said at a meeting over a dinner at the Impression Hall at Westham in East London on Thursday evening.

Hasina also called for the release of all political detainees and withdrawal of what she said false cases against them. "Without democracy, people will not get freedom."

She said the current situation in Bangladesh again "proved that none but Awami League, born with the people's support, can run the country correctly."

Hasina, now on interim release for treatment of her ears and eyes, said it is a misfortune for the people of Bangladesh that their right to vote and food was snatched away time and again. Democracy and national progress were repeatedly impeded. "We want democracy, we want people's right to vote and food," she told the dinner meeting hosted by the U.K. chapter of Awami League.

Referring to soaring food prices, the Awami League president said when the middle income group is facing the difficulty in maintaining their livelihood "one can understand the condition of others."

She said one can compare the rule of Awami League from 1996-2001 with those of the BNP-led alliance and the two years of the present caretaker government. During the Awami League rule, literacy rate increased to 66 percent from 45 percent while the inflation contained at 1.59 percent, she said, adding that now the inflation under the caretaker government shot up to 11-12 percent and not a single megawatt of electricity was produced.

"We want to establish good governance. Otherwise, the country will be lagging behind," she said.

Hasina expressed her deep gratitude to the expatriate Bangladeshis and the international community including members of the British and the European Parliaments for creating pressure on the caretaker government to allow her to return to Bangladesh from Washington in May last year.

On her return to the country, the Awami League chief said the government had arrested her without any warrant in "false" cases. During her detention, Hasina alleged that she did not get appropriate treatment. She was taken to hospital at the whims of the jail authorities.

Reiterating her commitment to fight for the cause of the Bangladeshi people, Hasina said she never bowed her head in the past and will not do so in the future.

British MP Anne Main, EU MP Dr Charles Kanock, Awami League acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam and a large number of Awami League leaders from UK, Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy attended the dinner.