A Dhaka court on Monday summoned the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson, Khaleda Zia, to appear before it on 3 March in a sedition case in connection with her remarks on the number of the 1971 liberation war martyrs.
Dhaka metropolitan magistrate Rashed Talukder passed the order after recording the statement of the plaintiff.
Earlier, the plaintiff, Mamtazuddin Ahmed, a pro-Awami League lawyer, filed the case with Dhaka chief metropolitan magistrate’s court, urging it to issue an arrest warrant against Khaleda Zia.
On Thursday, the home ministry gave its approval to bring sedition charges against the former prime minister for raising questions about the number of the 1971 liberation war martyrs.
Khaleda sued for sedition
BNP chief Khaleda Zia, at a discussion in the city on 21 December, said that there was a controversy over the actual number of martyrs during the country’s Liberation War.
“There's a lot of debate over the actual number of martyrs. It is said that such and such lakh [30 lakh or 3 million] embraced martyrdom during the war.
How many martyrs are there in reality?" Khaleda said.
In an oblique reference to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the BNP leader then said, “He didn’t want independence, he desired to be the prime minister of the erstwhile Pakistan. The country would not have been liberated unless Ziaur Rahman proclaimed independence.”
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