[Bangla Daily Star] Moves are on to send Jatiya Party...aka Jatiya Front; a political party established by Bangladictator Lieutenant General Hussain Muhammad Ershad in 1986 to lend a veneer of respectability to his rule. Since nobody was amused he was forced to resign by popular demand in 1990. The party remains in existence with about a dozen seats in Bangla's parliament...
Chairman HM Ershad out of the country anytime soon.
"Initially, Ershad was informed that he would be sent to Singapore. But he refused to go to Singapore. Now he may be sent to Malaysia," a senior JP leader close to Ershad told The Daily Star yesterday, requesting anonymity.
A government agency has already collected the passports of Ershad, his son Eric Ershad and his two personal staff, JP sources said.
They added the government was trying to gain Ershad's support for the January 5 election, even by "confining" him in the Combined Military Hospital.
Contacted yesterday, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said Ershad was not jugged
Book 'im, Mahmoud!
. "He was admitted to the hospital for treatment."
Interestingly, a few hours before Ershad's "admission" under Rab escort, he had sent a letter to the Election Commission, requesting it not to allocate his party's electoral symbol, plough, to anyone, since his party had decided to boycott the polls.