BREAKING NEWSJalil says 'sorry' for Hasina rant :: Bangladesh :: bdnews24.com ::
BREAKING NEWS
Jalil says 'sorry' for Hasina rant
Wed, Sep 30th, 2009 12:07 am BdST
Nahas Pasha, UK Correspondent
London, Sep 29 (bdnews24.com)Former Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil has said 'sorry' for his recent comments about the party, chief Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet, and the general elections.
The disgruntled ruling AL MP said he still suffers from trauma caused by the torture by the military intelligence DGFI during detention, which makes him say things that he wished he had not uttered.
"It pain still drives me mad. That's why I had sought justice in parliament and before her.
But he did not get justice and often has often has a fit for that, Jalil said, trying to explain his raving.
"I may have said things that welled up from the anger, I'm sorry for that," he said in the 15-minute interview.
Continued Jalil: " I will hope that my leader Sheikh Hasina will redress this torture."
"I'm 70 years now. My father, while he was alive, didn't ever take me to task, didn't beat me.
"It's painful how DGFI had misbehaved with me after taking me into custody.
"I'll be in politics, will pursue Awami League's politics under Sheikh Hasina. I believe and respect her."
He blamed a 'stubborn' BNP chief Khaleda Zia for the failure of the dialogue between him and former BNP secretary-general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan in 2006 .
"Khaleda Zia didn't want a fair and neutral election," said Jalil, currently on a visit to the UK.
'Never questioned polls credibility'
He refuted his claim that the government had come to power by striking a 'compromise' with the military-installed caretaker government.
"The elections could not be held if there was no 'deal'. I wanted to mean that a situation was created for the elections, like, my leader was arrested. Khaleda, ourselves were also arrested.
"There was a talk with the leader (Hasina) to conduct a fair election.
"This is what I wanted to mean.
"I didn't say anything about the election process. This was the most fair election among the all I have ever witnessed in my entire life... in the history of Bangladesh, and even during the Pakistan period.
"About the deal I wanted to mean that there was a mutual discussion with then president Iajuddin Ahmed, while there was a movement to conduct a fair election.
"The advisers had meeting with the [AL-led 14-party and BNP-led 4-party], which were not successful.
"The next caretaker government came as the earlier discussions failed. They stayed for one-two years. There was also a meeting about a fair election through which we've achieved a fair election, this is what I meant.
"I didn't mean someone put Awami League to office, and I didn't say so, I don't even believe that."
'Torture'
Was he really tortured?
"Definitely," Jalil says. "They tortured me physically, psychologically, made me to sign, didn't they?
"They took me to remand for 5, 6 days, made tapes and sent those abroad through Concord.
"How could this tape fly abroad if they didn't send it. I asked them, 'How (did it happen)?' They said a journalist has stolen.
"I asked, 'how did a journalist get in there?' I said, 'You are lying'."
The AL frontbencher said the pain renders him restless sometimes.
"This is why I spoke about it in parliament, I asked for the constitution of a parliamentary committee hoping to have justice for their (DGFI) misusing power.
"I've got no redress yet. I hope someday my leader will redress this.
"I can't digest it that a man, who was never beaten by his parents, never rebuked, he is tortured by a DGFI staff... for whom I pay... they are paid by my taxes."
The veteran was reminded in the interview that it was Hasina who had made him the general secretary, a technocrat minister when he failed to get elected in 1996 and made him the head of a standing committee.
So, why does he rant and rave against her?
"No, no, I don't have any grievance. I didn't say anything about grievance or protest. I think I don't deserve more than what she has given me.
"She made me general secretary, a minister, I could not be those without her blessings.
"But my pain is that she gave me punishment. I wanted to know why she did so. She can do that, even hundred times, for she is my leader.
"But I wanted to know what mistake I made.
"I was the only person to speak for the leader when everyone was speaking about reforms to exclude Sheikh Hasina from politics.
He asserted that he was still on her side.
"Yes, I'm. 'Boat' is not someone's own asset. It's owned by Bangabandhu, Sheikh Hasina and the people who are with it.
'Khaleda is responsible'
Questioned why he and Mannan Bhuiyan did not agree in that 2006 dialogue, Jalil blamed it on Khaleda.
"Khaleda Zia is responsible for that. Because, if you recall, we sat for 10 minutes in the last day, where we agreed that we'd sit again on one point.
"Bhuiyan was asked to come with his leader's consent and I with the 14 parties', and we'd meet again for half an hour.
"I got the nod of my leader and 14-party alliance. She said, 'Go ahead', she gave me permission.
"I was waiting all day, but couldn't reach him. It was 11:30pm when I found him. I asked him to sit for 10 minutes, saying that journalists were moving around.
"He said, 'Jalil Bhai, you've got your leader's consent, but I couldn't contact her (Khaleda). What would I say there if I don't see her or get permission?'"
"The leader later sat with the 14-party on the point we agreed, endorsed it and told me, 'Go ahead and tell the press'."
"But Bhuiyan couldn't come due to the stubbornness of Khaleda Zia. She didn't want a fair election that time.
Asked if he would be in active politics after his return home, the AL MP said: "Certainly, why not? I represent a constituency.
"Why won't I do politics? Certainly I'll and it'll be the politics of Awami League, under her leadership.
"I rate her very high and I don't believe that there won't be any change in the country under her leadership.
"So I said out of frustration that there has been no success in the nine months."
Flak from the across the board
Hasina said in New York on Sunday that Jalil should as well resign from parliament before he questions the credibility of the Dec 29 elections.
"He was given the party ticket and has been elected," added Hasina.
"Has he been elected that way? He should resign first before making such allegation," she snapped.
She referred to domestic and international recognition that Dec 29 elections were the fairest and the freest in Bangladesh's history.
On whether the party would take any action against Jalil, Hasina said: "I don't have any headache about it."
She said Jalil has been saying many things, and "let him speak."
Earlier on Tuesday, chief election commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda dismissed Jalil's comments on the 'election deal' as outpouring of a man utterly frustrated.
Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Monday said Jalil's remarks were aimed to smear the credibility of Hasina.
Outburst
Now reduced to a member of the party's advisory committee, a body without much say in the organisational matters, Jalil
first spoke to bdnews24.com on Wednesday.
He said he had made a mistake by not going against the party chief, Sheikh Hasina, on his return to the country to protect his post during the 2007-08 caretaker government regime.
Hours before, a London-based ethnic TV station had aired excerpts of an interview in which Jalil repeated his trademark tirade against the military intelligence outfit DGFI.
"It was my mistake not to go against her. My offence was extreme loyalty to her," Jalil said in an interview with bdnews24.com in London on Wednesday.
"Sheikh Hasina ordered me from America to take rest," he said of her pre-election decision, adding he did not protest the leader's command.
"My decision was wrong. I should have taken her head-on."
Jalil said the party advisory council has no function now and there is no chance to make it effective.
Terming himself and other veteran AL leaders mere 'activists', Jalil said it was a ploy to oust the 'activists' from politics.
He said '90 percent' ministers of the incumbent government are 'reformists'--people who propagated the so-called reform moves in the party to sideline Hasina, allegedly with the patronage of the military-installed interim government.
"Ninety percent members of the cabinet were supporters of the reformists."
Asked to elaborate on his comment on alleged "deal" between the AL and the caretaker government on the elections, he said: "It might have happened."
