Sedition case: court summons Khaleda

A Dhaka court has asked the chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Begum Khaleda Zia to appear before it on March 3 in a sedition case filed for her recent comment about the number of Liberation War martyrs.

Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Mohammad Rashed Talukdar passed the order on Monday.

Earlier, Momtaj Uddin Ahmed Mehedi, a lawyer of Supreme Court, as a plaintiff, filed the case with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court in capital at 11am.

Speaking at a discussion on December 21 last year, the BNP chairperson expressed doubts about the government`s claims that nearly three million people died during the 1971 Liberation War.

She also alleged that Bangabandhu wanted to be the prime minister of undivided Pakistan rather than lead the country to independence.

On Dec 23, lawyer Mehedi served a legal notice on the former prime minister, asking her to issue an ‘unconditional apology’ within seven days or face legal consequences.

With the notice yielding no reply, Mehedi filed a petition last week with the home ministry seeking clearance to file a sedition case, which was approved on Jan 21.