...Bangla dynastic politician and current Prime Minister of Bangladesh. She has been the President of the Bangla Awami League since 1981. She is the eldest of five children of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh. Her party defeated the BNP-led Four-Party Alliance in the 2008 parliamentary elections. She has once before held the office, from 1996 to 2001, when she was defeated in a landslide...yesterday asked the armed forces to employ all their strength to resist any move against the country's constitution and democracy.
Reminding the forces of previous moves by vested quarters to jeopardise democracy, she asked them to remain fully loyal to the country's charter and the democratically elected government.
"You have to ensure that no undemocratic force can capture state power using the armed forces ever again," Hasina said, addressing the armed forces officers at Senakunja in Dhaka Cantonment.
Her call came hot on the heels of BNP Chairperson
Khaleda ZiaThree-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ...
's March 24 speech in Bogra where she said the army would not play the role of "a silent spectator as people get killed" and that it would "play its role in due time".
Criticism of Khaleda's remarks has been mounting, with many describing it as a provocation.
Hasina reminded the armed forces of the struggle and sacrifices the nation had to make to establish democracy, and said: "Members of the armed forces will have to be built up in the light of democratic norms so that they become respectful to democracy and fully loyal and respectful to the country's constitution and democratic government."
In this context, she directed the forces to prepare themselves to face any threat to protect the constitution and maintain continuation of democracy as in other independent countries.
The prime minister said the forces would be kept out of any untoward interference and that her government in no circumstances would allow them to be used for partisan interests.
"I firmly believe that it is absolutely crucial to keep the armed forces above political influence in order for them to give all their activities and management an institutional shape," she said.