The military backed caretaker government yesterday imposed a virtual restriction on the movement of former prime minister and Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina, only allowing a handful of her close relatives and some senior AL leaders to visit her at her Sudha Sadan residence.Regardless of the restriction on her movement, Hasina stepped out in public for the first time yesterday as she went to see the body of deceased AL leader Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan in a city hospital in the morning. In the evening security officials tightened the restriction on Hasina, the eldest daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and also on the visitors who went to Sudha Sadan to meet her. The law enforcers did not let some senior AL leaders into Sudha Sadan yesterday.
The AL chief was scheduled to visit the Bangabandhu Memorial building on Road No 32 of Dhanmondi, where most of her family members had been assassinated, and also her ailing aunt's residence in Gulshan, but she had to cancel the programme due to the restriction, party sources said. Hasina's personal assistant Dr Hasan Mahmud told The Daily Star that the law enforcers restricted almost all the senior leaders from going inside Sudha Sadan. Although police have been saying that there is a restriction, they did not notify the AL chief about it officially, he said.
Intelligence sources said they have government directives to bar everyone from meeting Hasina, except her 'close relatives'. Talking to The Daily Star members of different intelligence agencies said the AL president is going to meet the fate of the BNP chairperson.
Hasina's hitherto bitter political rival BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been virtually confined in her cantonment residence for almost four months now. The High Court on Sunday asked the caretaker government to explain the restriction on Khaleda within four weeks.