Dissidents in Bangladesh's largest political party have ousted former prime minister Khaleda Zia as leader while she is under arrest on corruption charges, officials said yesterday.
The move comes amid a worsening split within the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) between Zia's loyalists and so-called reformers attempting to revitalize the party in line with the emergency government's anti-graft drive.
Former finance minister M. Saifur Rahman, seen as a dissident in the BNP, said he was made acting party chief in Zia's absence after a marathon party meeting late on Monday.
Hafizuddin Ahmed, another former minister and a key BNP rebel, was also made acting secretary general in place of Zia loyalist Khandaker Delwar Hossain, who is sick.
But a close aide to Zia said it was unclear if the changes were legal.
"We cannot make any comment right now. We have to see whether the changes were made as per the party's constitution," A.S.M. Hannan Shah said.
Zia has been arrested along with her younger son Arafat Rahman and remanded in custody on charges of graft linked to the awarding of a multimillion-dollar government contract.
She has also been trying to fight a growing party rebellion, and had fired her deputy in the BNP hierarchy, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, for "conspiracy to split the party."
That sacking was also annulled by the latest party meeting, officials said.
The BNP was Bangladesh's last governing party, but has been in turmoil since elections were cancelled in January over opposition allegations of poll rigging.
Since then the country has been ruled by an army-backed emergency government, which has embarked on a campaign to clean up the country's notoriously dysfunctional and dynastic political landscape.
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
RSS