SHEIKH HASINA, Honorable Prime Minister of People's Republic of Bangladesh(2nd term), was born on 28 September, 1947 at Tungipara under Gopalganj district. She is the eldest of five children of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of independent Bangladesh.

She graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1973. She was elected Vice President of the Students Union of Government Intermediate Girl’s College. She was a member of the students League Unit of Dhaka University and Secretary of the Students League Unit of Rokeya Hall. She actively participated in all the mass movements since her student life.

Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the members of his family was martyred on the fateful night of 15 August 1975. Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were the only survivors as they were in West Germany at that time. Later she went to the United Kingdom from where she started her movement against the autocratic rule in 1980. Sheikh Hasina was unanimously elected President of Bangladesh Awami League in 1981 in her absence, while she was forced to live in exile in New Delhi. Ending six years in exile, she returned home finally on 17 May 1981.In the parliamentary election held in 1986, she won three seats. She was elected Leader of the Opposition. She led the historic mass movement in 1990 and announced the constitutional formula for peaceful transfer o

f power through Articles 51 and 56 of the Constitution.

Following the election of 1991 Sheikh Hasina became Leader of the Opposition in the country’s Fifth Parliament, She steered all the political parties in the parliament towards changing the Presidential system into the Parliamentary one.

Sheikh Hasina created awareness among the people and waged a struggle for Non-party Caretaker Government to ensure free and fair polls. Her movement reached the peak after a non-cooperation movement in March 1996 and th

e provision for Non-party Caretaker Government was incorporated in the Constitution.

At the call of Sheikh Hasina a large number of people of all walks of life expressed solidarity with the movement at the ‘Janatar Mancha’. In the Parliamentary election held on 12 June 1996, Bangladesh Awami League emerged as the majority party and she assumed the office of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 23 June 1996.After becoming the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasinaadopted a number of pragmatic policies for overall development of the nation including poverty alleviation. During the last four years her government achieved laudable success including signing of the historic 30 year Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India, signing of historic peace Accord on Chittagong Hill Tracts and inauguration of the Bangabandhu Bridge on the river Jamuna.Sheikh Hasina was conferred Degree of Doctor of Law by the Boston University of the USA on 6 February 1997 and Honorary Doctor of Law by the Waseda University of Japan on 4 July 1997. She was also conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy in Liberal Arts by University of Abertay Dundee of the United Kingdom on 25 October, 1997. She was conferred Honorary Degree of Desikottama (Doctor of Literature, honoris causa) by Visva-Bharati University of West Be ngal, India on 28 January 1999. She was also conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, on the ground of her distinguished creative contributions in the service of society by the Australian National University on 20 October 1999. Dhaka University conferred Honorary 'Doctor of Laws' degree to Sheikh Hasina on 18 December, 1999 for her outstanding contribution towards peace and democracy. The World famous Catholic University of Brussels, Belgium conferred Honorary Doctorate degree (Doctor Honoris Causa) on Sheikh Hasina on 04 February, 2000 for her decisive role in establishing democracy, protecting human rights and peace. Sheikh Hasina has been conferred Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by the Bridgeport University, USA on 5 September, 2000.Sheikh Hasina has been awarded UNESCO's Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize for 1998 for her remarkable contribution to bringing peace through ending the 25 years of conflict in Chittagong Hill Tracts with political courage and statesmanship.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received prestigious Pearl S. Buck Award '99 on 9 April 2000 in recognition of her vision, courage, achievements in political, economic and humanitarian fields by Randolph Macon Women's College of USA. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been awarded the prestigious CERES' medal to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in recognition to her fight against hunger on 02 August, 1999. The All India Peace Council awarded her 'Mother Teresa Award' in 1998. The Mahatma M K Gandhi Foundation of Oslo, Norway awarded Sheikh Hasina ‘M K Gandhi Award’ for 1998 for her contribution towards promotion of communal understanding, non violent religions harmony and growth of democracy at the level of grassroots in Bangladesh. Sheikh Hasina was named Paul Haris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. She was also given Medal of Distinction in 1996-97 and 1998-99 and Head of State Medal in 1996-97 by the International Association of Lions Clubs.

She has authored several books including "Why Are They Street Children", "The Origin of Autocracy", 'Miles to Go", "Elimination of Poverty and Some Thoughts", "People and Democracy", "My Dream My Struggle" and "Development for the Masses." She performed holy Hajj and Umrah several times.

Sheikh Hasina is the Chairperson of "The Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Memorial Trust". She has been helping a lot of poor boys and girls for their education.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, throughout her life has been a strong proponent of peace, freedom and democracy. From an early age, inspired by the lofty ideals and love for the people of her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the liberator of Bangladesh, she developed a strong sense of identity for the common people. She always spoke out against oppression and violation of human rights. This commitment has hardened over the years, particularly when her parents, brothers and scores of relatives were brutally assassinated by the misguided members of the military in 1975 soon after the independence of Bangladesh.Since that time her resolve for democracy and development for the teeming millions of Bangladesh has become firmly entrenched. She struggled for the return of democracy in Bangladesh and fought valiantly for its establishment in the country in every possible manner. She was committed to making Parliament the centre of all national activities.In 1996, the people of Bangladesh gave her a strong mandate as the Prime Minister of the country. Despite serious resource and constraints and recurrent natural calamity as well as widespread poverty, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, during the first two years of her government, has lived up to her unswerving commitment to the cause of peace, democracy, development and human rights.

Her first act of peace within months of her assumption of office was the initiative for resolution of the long-standing water-sharing dispute with India through a 30-years treaty. This put an end to a very complex regional dispute.Her visionary idea of a business summit among the political and private sector leaders of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan has added a new chapter in the history of South Asia.Her dedicated leadership also made possible a peace agreement in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, thereby solving the 23-year old insurgency in the Hill districts of Bangladesh. This peace accord brought an area inhabited by nearly 5 million people out of violence and into a time of peace and development. Though the international media has not given much prominence to this accord, it is uniquely remarkable because the peace accord benefited such a large number of people and the whole area has been brought under development programs following the complete surrender of arms by the insurgents.Her quest for peace has taken her to India and Pakistan to talk to the leaders of these two countries soon after the nuclear test urging reduction of tension in the region.

Prime Minister Hasina has been a strong advocate for the Culture of Peace at global, regional and national levels. In many major conferences, she espoused the concept of the Culture of Peace, most recently in South Africa at the 12th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) which has a membership of 114 countries. Her initiative has resulted in the first-ever resolution by the Plenary of the United Nations General Assembly on the Culture of Peace. She also provided leadership for the declaration by the UN of the period 2001 to 2010 as the International Decade for Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World.

Prime Minister Hasina’s determination for the eradication of poverty, in particular through wide-ranging microcredit programmes, has been recognized world-wide. Her co-chairpersonship of the Microcredit Summit in February 1997 which resolved to bring 100 million families of the world out of poverty by 2005 focused world attention to her strong commitment to the eradication of poverty and enlistment of the poorest of the poor. She has been a champion of microcredit by spreading the message in major international forums. Her leadership led to the adoption for the first time by UN General Assembly a far-reaching resolution on the role of microcredit in the eradication of poverty.

Along with poverty eradication, she has focused on the empowerment of women and has successfully completed legislation to ensure adequate representation of women in the local government bodies, leading to the election of more than 14,000 women to these bodies in 1997. She has taken major initiatives to stop violence against women and children.

She has also provided leadership in the field of education, particularly for the education of girls in her own country as well as advocating it for global support. Her government has greatly enhanced budgetary allocation for primary education focusing on girls’ education.

To improve the quality of life of the people of Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has particularly focused on human development, paying special attention to healthcare, family planning, nutrition, women’s rights and survival and development of children. At the UN and other forums, she has been a major voice in support of the cause of children and their rights.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, all along her life, defended human rights in every possible way. Her active promotion of the rights of women and children has drawn appreciation by both of government and NGOs as well as international organizations. She has promoted the right to development as having centrality in the human rights regime. At the NAM Summit in South Africa in 1998, her proposal for a Convention on the Right to Development received welcoming endorsement of the Heads of State and Government. She initiated the establishment of a National Human Rights Commission and the office of Ombudsperson as well as Bangladesh’s recent accession to six major human rights instruments including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Her keen interest resulted in the signature by Bangladesh of the Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and ratification of the Landmines Treaty, being the first country in South Asia to do so.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s initiative resulted in the hosting of the first-ever conference of the Asian parliamentarians devoted to peace and cooperation in Dhaka in September 1999 which elected her as the first President of the Association of Asian Parliaments for peace established at the conference.

At present, as someone who has lost so much personally and has been a victim of oppression and denial of freedom, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina stands out as a messenger of peace, democracy, development and human rights. Her leadership of the eighth largest country of the world manifests her concern for the people, seen again during the worst-ever floods in Bangladesh in 1998.

§ Sheikh Hasina is the recipient of the UNESCO Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize for 1998 for her role in bringing peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh.

§ Sheikh Hasina has been awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Award for 1998 (Oslo, Norway) for her contribution towards promotion of communal understanding, non-violence, religio

us harmony and growth of grassroots democracy in Bangladesh.

§ She has been awarded 1999 CERES Medal for contribution to the agriculture development by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome.

§ She is the winner of the 1999 Pearl S. Buck Award for "your vision, your courage and your achievements in political, economic and humanitarian spheres capture the spirit of the award and of the woman who inspired it."

§ She has been awarded honorary Doctor of Liberal Arts by the University of Alberta Dundee in the United Kingdom in October 1997.

§ She has been conferred honorary Doctor of Laws by the Boston University in th

e United States and the Waseda University of Japan.

§ She has been conferred the degree of Desikottama (Doctor of Literature) by the Visva-Bharati University, India founded by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

§ She has been conferred honorary Doctor of Laws by the Australian National University in October 1999.

§ Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been conferred honorary Doctor of Laws by Dhaka University in December 1999.

§ She has been conferred honorary Doctor of Laws by the Catholic University of Brussels in February 2000.

§ Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been conferred by the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters for her contribution to world peace and development by the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut in the United States on 5 September 2000.

Under her leadership her party Bangladesh Awami League led grand alliance to win a landslide victory in the 9th Parliament Election on December 29, 2008 with 262 seats out of 299 in the National Parliament.

Sheikh Hasina took oath as Prime Minister of Bangladesh (2nd term) at a ceremony held at Banghabhaban on January 06, 2009.

 

Sheikh Hasina has had a mercurial political career

Profile: Sheikh Hasina

 

The life of Bangladesh Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina, almost from her childhood, has been characterised by a series of highs and lows.

The highs included witnessing as a child her father's release from imprisonment in Pakistan to become Bangladesh's first president and her own stint as prime minister in which she was undisputed leader of her country and her Awami League.

On the other side, she had to bear the murder of her father and other members of her family during a coup in 1975, her own ignominious fall from power as prime minister and more recently her arrest and imprisonment on corruption charges.

Sheikh Hasina was born in September 1947 with politics in her blood.

She stepped into the limelight following the 1975 murders - she and her sister, Sheikh Rehana, are only believed to have escaped because they were in Germany at the time. Three of her brothers were killed in the attack.

Sheikh Hasina has always managed to garner support on the street

The dynastical nature of South Asian politics - the Bhuttos in Pakistan, the Nehru-Gandhi family in India and the Bandaranaikes in Sri Lanka - meant it was almost inevitable that she would forge a similar career path, especially because she had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University in the run-up to independence in 1971.

Forced into exile following her father's murder, she retuned in 1981 to campaign against the military government of Gen Hossain Mohammad Ershad and spent much of that decade in and out of prison or under house arrest.

After the fall of Gen Ershad, Bangladesh's first elections were held in 1991. They were won by her rival, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia.

By that time the two women had little time for each other, principally because Ms Zia claimed that her husband, Ziaur Rahman, was Bangladesh's true independence hero - not Sheikh Mujib.

The animosity between the two women has if anything grown more bitter over the years as their respective parties alternated in and out power.

Critics say that before and after elections, neither leader was ever prepared to entertain the notion they might lose, and both have over the years shown no scruples about using dirty tactics to undermine their opponents.

'Rigged'

Sheikh Hasina's first taste of power came in June 1996, when she was elected prime minister. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country.

But at the same time her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

Sheikh Hasina was voted out of office in 2001, complaining of a rigged vote. In opposition for a second time, she escaped an assassination attempt in Dhaka which resulted in the deaths of 21 party supporters in 2004.But her ability to get her supporters out on to the streets remained undiminished. She succeeded in delaying elections scheduled for January 2007 - precipitating a state of emergency - by complaining that they would have been rigged in favour of the BNP. During nearly two years of military-backed interim government, Sheikh Hasina survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she was accused of corruption during her time in power. She spent about a year in detention and was only let out in late 2008 for medical treatment in the US.But a combination of her support on the streets and her own iron determination meant that both initiatives came to nought.https://reignofterror20012006.blogspot.com/ 

Sheikh Hasina has had a mercurial political career

The Dynamic Women Leadership in South Asia: Sheikh Hasina

The life of Bangladesh Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina, almost from her childhood, has been characterised by a series of highs and lows.

The highs included witnessing as a child her father's release from imprisonment in Pakistan to become Bangladesh's first president and her own stint as prime minister in which she was undisputed leader of her country and her Awami League.

On the other side, she had to bear the murder of her father and other members of her family during a coup in 1975, her own ignominious fall from power as prime minister and more recently her arrest and imprisonment on corruption charges.

Sheikh Hasina was born in September 1947 with politics in her blood.

She stepped into the limelight following the 1975 murders - she and her sister, Sheikh Rehana, are only believed to have escaped because they were in Germany at the time. Three of her brothers were killed in the attack.

SHEIKH HASINA HAS ALWAYS MANAGED TO GARNER SUPPORT ON THE STREET

The dynastical nature of South Asian politics - the Bhuttos in Pakistan, the Nehru-Gandhi family in India and the Bandaranaikes in Sri Lanka - meant it was almost inevitable that she would forge a similar career path, especially because she had already established a reputation as a student leader at Dhaka University in the run-up to independence in 1971.

Forced into exile following her father's murder, she returned in 1981 to campaign against the military government of Gen Hossain Mohammad Ershad and spent much of that decade in and out of prison or under house arrest.

After the fall of Gen Ershad, Bangladesh's first elections were held in 1991. They were won by her rival, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Khaleda Zia.

By that time the two women had little time for each other, principally because Ms Zia claimed that her husband, Ziaur Rahman, was Bangladesh's true independence hero - not Sheikh Mujib.

The animosity between the two women has if anything grown more bitterly over the years as their respective parties alternated in and out power.

Critics say that before and after elections, neither leader was ever prepared to entertain the notion they might lose, and both have over the years shown no scruples about using dirty tactics to undermine their opponents.

'Rigged'

Sheikh Hasina's first taste of power came in June 1996, when she was elected prime minister. She earned credit for signing a water-sharing deal with India and a peace deal with tribal insurgents in the south-east of the country. But at the same time her government was criticised for numerous allegedly corrupt business deals and for being too subservient to India.

Sheikh Hasina was voted out of office in 2001, complaining of a rigged vote. In opposition for a second time, she escaped an assassination attempt in Dhaka which resulted in the deaths of 21 party supporters in 2004.

But her ability to get her supporters out on to the streets remained undiminished. She succeeded in delaying elections scheduled for January 2007 - precipitating a state of emergency - by complaining that they would have been rigged in favour of the BNP.

During nearly two years of military-backed interim government, Sheikh Hasina survived efforts to force her into exile and numerous court cases in which she was accused of corruption during her time in power. She spent about a year in detention and was only let out in late 2008 for medical treatment in the US.

But a combination of her support on the streets and her own iron determination meant that both initiatives came to nought. Sheikh Hasina 

had to wait for three-and-a-half decades to see justice done in her father’s case. She can now concentrate on delivering on the issues that are on the front burner.

For Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Supreme Court verdict sentencing five former army officers, accused of assassinating her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to death is a delayed but sweet retribution. It has been a long road to justice for the daughter of the Father of the Nation. She has had to wait for three-and-a-half decades to see justice done. The architect of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 was assassinated on August 15, 1975.

Civil society, the media — both radio and television — and a majority of newspaper editorials were quick to welcome the final verdict.

Delivered amid high security by a five-member Bench of the Appellate division, there was consensus that the judgment was a step towards setting the nation’s history right.

Black hole

For the first 21 years after the killing, the case went into a black hole due to an indemnity ordinance promulgated by President Khondker Mushtaque Ahmed to shield the killers. It was only in 1996, when the Awami League was elected back to power, that Parliament disabled the Act and Mujibur’s personal secretary filed a first information report to press ahead with charges against his assassins.

The Bangabandhu case again took a back seat during the Bangladesh Nationalist Party regime of Khaleda Zia and the subsequent caretaker government. It is only after Sheikh Hasina romped home with a convincing victory in December 2008, did hopes of getting justice for the assassinated leader brighten up again. With the pronouncement of the verdict, Sheikh Hasina can now seek the political closure of her personal tragedy and concentrate on delivering on the issues that are on the front burner.

Violence and counter-violence have become a way of life in the subcontinent and Bangladesh is no exception. The mutiny on February 25 and 26 in the headquarters of Bangaldesh Rifles (BDR) in Dhaka by jawans resulted in a bloodbath. Disgruntled over low wages and alleged abuse and misuse by their superiors, the jawans went on a killing spree, gunning down the Director-General of BDR and his wife, and dozens of top army officials. The death toll is reported to be 148.

Coming as it did just two months after she took charge as Prime Minister, the mutiny left Sheikh Hasina, the Awami League, and the people of Bangladesh stunned. Sheikh Hasina showed great courage in personally going to the BDR headquarters and facing the enraged army officers who were baying for the jawans’ blood. She took them on at a free-for-all post-mortem meeting (all captured on YouTube and beamed to millions) and assured them that justice would be done, but only after a proper inquiry was conducted.

During a visit to Bangladesh in May, I spoke to several journalists and members of civil society who praised the courage that a shocked and shaken Sheikh Hasina showed following the mutiny.

Bangladesh is impatient to move on. It wants the Awami League to deliver on its promises after getting a resounding verdict in the last election. Neither the last caretaker government nor the graft-ridden regime of Khaleda Zia delivered on its promises. There are huge expectations from Mujib’s daughter.

Heavy price

Sheikh Hasina is aware of the price she has had to pay for being out of power. Last summer, on her way back from London, she was suddenly informed at the airport that the caretaker government had barred her from returning to Bangladesh. For the next few days, she stayed in a rented flat in London with her sister and lobbied tirelessly with the media, the British and American MPs, and the Bangladeshi community in Britain. Finally, the caretaker government relented and she boarded the flight to Dhaka like a heroine.

A woman whose father fought for the liberation of her country could not be deterred by political rivals. The entire episode turned out to be bad publicity for the caretaker government and a great boost for Sheikh Hasina, who was headed for an election. She won handsomely a few months later.

The trial of war criminals is one of the issues that is occupying mind space in Bangladesh. Civil society is keen that it be conducted in a transparent and just manner. Several Jamaat leaders are in the list of accused and this has led to further polarisation of opposing camps. There is a new effort at retelling the sacrifices of the martyrs of the liberation struggle, in which three million lives were lost. Efforts such as building Liberation War Museums are on.

Sheikh Hasina has a huge stake in reviving the liberation patriotism to counter the anti-liberation forces. After all, it is the elements of patriotism that remember the sacrifices her father made for the country.

A background paper distributed during a meeting to plan a new Liberation Museum in Dhaka which I attended this year read: “It is an effort at connecting our present with our past. An effort at telling ourselves that it was indeed a war to uphold a distinctly different culture that this nation has, as opposed to the so-called two-nation theory on which the theocratic state of Pakistan was based. A nation cannot be born for the sake of a particular religion alone.”

Rabindranath Tagore’s 147th birth anniversary celebrations peaked in public spaces and on the many Bengali television channels in Bangladesh. In comparison, the media coverage on Tagore in India pales into insignificance.

But apart from attempting a Bengali cultural and social revival, there is pressing business to be attended to. The problem inherited by all of South Asia ails Bangladesh too — of home-grown terrorists. So in this very crucial term of office, Sheikh Hasina is a Prime Minister with a mission. She has made it very clear that she will move against forces — referred to as Jongis (terrorists) in Bengali — that support terrorism on Bangladeshi soil.

‘Fight or perish’

Supported by an experienced Home Minister Sahara Khatun and a young, hands-on and media savvy Minister of State for Home Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj, Sheikh Hasina has put the fight against counter terrorism on top of her government’s agenda. The popular saying in Bangladesh these days is: “Fight terrorism or perish like Pakistan.”

Tracing the missing grenades and weaponry after the BDR mutiny remains a major area of concern for the Awami League, lest they fall into the wrong hands within Bangladesh or across the border in India or Pakistan.

The arrest of ULFA mastermind Arabinda Rajkhowa in the country last week and his handover to India this week demonstrate that the Hasina government is determined not to allow Bangladeshi soil to be used as a safe haven for terrorists.

The global recession too has fuelled social problems. It has meant the huge migrant workforce of Bangladeshis abroad being shown the door and repatriated back home. It is estimated that by year-end, one lakh workers may be forced to return to their country.

Sheikh Hasina’s new slogan is the dream of a “Digital Bangladesh.” The Prime Minister is keen on shoring up Information Technology and knowledge-based industries in Bangladesh to address joblessness, and is reported to have channelled 4,900 crore Bangladeshi takas to establish such industries.

The slogan may be ridiculed by frustrated cabbies trying to negotiate the car through thousands of rickshaws on Dhaka’s mindboggling streets. But for millions of middle-class students passing out of the country’s universities, it offers a ray of hope for a safe, self-reliant and modern Bangladesh 38 years after it gained independence.