Amid a protracted campaign within former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s party to clip her “unlimited powers,” arch-rival and former ex-premier Sheikh Hasina also appears to be under growing pressure to retire from politics.Pressure from within as well as outside her Awami League (AL) party, is mounting on Hasina to retire from politics, The Daily Star reported today.The paper said a group of senior AL leaders have been distancing themselves from Hasina of late, adding to the pressure on her to concede to the demand for radical changes in the party.The report follows the recent revival of two graft cases against Hasina by the military-backed interim government regarding the purchase of MiG-29 fighters and a frigate for the Air Force and Navy during her tenure as the Prime Minister. The latest crackdown on senior AL leaders, including general secretary Abdul Jalil, and Hasina’s cousin Sheikh Selim has dealt her a severe blow.And this, is not all. According to Prothom Alo and other newspapers, Jalil reportedly told investigators that black money holders easily got nominations in elections as Hasina exercised “absolute power” in making such decisions. Former president of the country’s apex body of business chambers Abdul Awal Mintoo has also been arrested and admitted during interrogation that a Korean company had given a bribe to Hasina in order to sell their frigate to the Bangladesh Navy.
