Khaleda Zia hit by party rebellion

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh's embattled former premier Khaleda Zia was hit by a fresh blow with senior rebels in her own party promising to oust her as leader.

Zia, who led Bangladesh twice from 1991-1996 and 2001-2006, is already facing possible corruption charges and apparent pressure to go into exile amid a major anti-graft crackdown by the country's military-backed emergency government.

Mahbubur Rahman, a reformist in Zia's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), said she would be asked to step down as party chief as soon as the authorities lift a ban on politics that was imposed in January. "Party secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan has unveiled the reform proposals this afternoon, which we hope will inject new life into the BNP and make it strong and popular," he said, indicating that Zia had lost her grip on the party.

"We will ask her to quit the party post. I think she will accept the proposals because we have the support of almost all the senior party figures," he said.

Rahman also insisted the party coup was not taking place at the behest of Bangladesh's interim leaders, who have vowed to clean up the country's notoriously corrupt political landscape before holding new polls by the end of next year.

"Our party has come to this situation because of her actions. We have initiated the move to rescue the party. It cannot suffer any more," said Rahman, who is also a former army chief.

Bangladesh's interim government took power in January after the president imposed a state of emergency and cancelled a controversial polls following months of political turmoil.

Opposition parties, led by the Awami League of Zia's bitter rival Sheikh Hasini Wajed, had launched weeks of violent protests accusing the BNP of trying to rig the scheduled polls.

Since the emergency government took over, Awami League leaders have also come under pressure.

Under the proposals also backed by a number of former BNP ministers, no member can lead the party or the government twice and anyone with a criminal conviction will automatically lose their party membership. This would mean Zia's elder son and heir apparent, Tareque Rahman, could also be ousted. He is in jail facing charges of extortion.

Dhaka, Tuesday, AFP.