Monday, Apr. 03, 2006

Extended Interview: "We Have Arrested So Many"

By WILLIAM GREEN and ALEX PERRY

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia entered politics after the 1981 assassination of her husband General Ziaur Rahman. In a rare interview with Western journalists, Zia, 60, talked to Time's William Green and Alex Perry in Dhaka about corruption, her political nemesis and her campaign to crush the threat of militant Islam. This is the extended transcript of that interview:

Tell us about the crackdown on Bangladesh's Islamic insurgency.
Zia: We have arrested so many. There are two or three big leaders left. We will get everybody. It's possible because people are with us. Even religious leaders are not supporting them. We have broken their back.

How big a factor was pressure from abroad?
Zia: We have very good relations with the FBI, the U.S. and Interpol. We are working together. But this is from me. I told my home minister to catch all these people. They are terrorists. They are using the name of Islam, but they are not good Muslims.

You took a while to act.
Zia: We did not know they were there. After the August 17 bomb blasts, we knew. And we cracked down on them. Some leaders face a death sentence. Many have been given 40 years in jail. [But] Bangladesh is not a rich country, my priority is health and education, and we do not have the technology. The terrorists have modern weapons, but the police did not.

Does having hardline Islamic parties in your coalition compromise your position?
Zia: Our allied parties are fine. They know we have to catch the terrorists.

People say members of your Bangladeshi National Party had links with [insurgent leader] Bangla Bhai.
Zia: Only the opposition says this. There are no B.N.P. members [involved]. If anybody is involved, not only B.N.P. members, but anybody, we will take action.

Opposition leader Sheikh Hasina told us the insurgency was your "baby"?
Zia: No, no, it's not my baby. It's their baby. When I took over, the country's law-and-order situation was very bad. People were very afraid. Nobody could sleep. Nobody could come out of their homes. We inherited terrorism from them.

Why the mutual hostility with Hasina?
Zia: It's not mutual. I want to be friends. I'd be very happy to meet her. We have to [be] together [to] resolve problems. I wrote a letter. But she did not receive it. If she really wants to cooperate, tell her she can come. But if she does not want to, I cannot help it.

Where does this friction come from?
Zia: Ask her.

That's what she says.
Zia: Many times I have invited her, but she did not turn up.

She says the difference between the two of you is ideological, not personal.
Zia: That means she does not believe in democracy. I believe in democracy, and in democracy we sit and talk to everybody.

Do you think the deadlock stymies development?
Zia: We're not fighting, we're working. We have many development programs. If you go to the countryside, you'll see good roads, bridges, homes, electricity, women's education. I am doing all these things. [Our] development work is not hampered. But when [the opposition] calls countrywide strikes, despite promising not to, then development will be hampered. I can't do anything about that.

What about corruption?
Zia: After people come to Bangladesh, they [realize] the law and order situation is [actually] very good. This is all propaganda against Bangladesh. There are some disgruntled newspapers and journalists doing this. TIME magazine also, you did the same thing. If Bangladesh is so bad, how come Bangladesh is doing so well in health and education? How come so much investment is coming? Our growth rate is 5.8%. Everywhere in Bangladesh, [people] lead a good life. Nobody goes without food or clothes. Everybody has access to education. They get proper health care. There is no hunger. What else do you want?

As a woman in an Islamic country, is women's education important to you?
Zia: Girls' education is very important. If we want to progress as a country, if we want to remove poverty, if we have to spread awareness of family planning and bring down population growth, we have to educate them, give them equal rights. Women have to prove that they are no less than men. I am trying to end [the] dowry [system]. That will only happen when women start working as professionals. Our country is conservative, but people have accepted my programs. People accepted me. This is big.

You smile when you say that.
Zia: I want to do something for the people of my country. Especially women and children. People will remember me for that.

Your entry into politics was under unfortunate circumstances.
Zia: When my husband was killed, I did not get involved. I did not want to. But party leaders started consulting me and I had to join due to public pressure, and when the army was ruling our country. It's very hard to be in politics in our country, but I got people's support. It's exactly the same [with my son]. People want him.

Bangladesh isn't the easiest country to govern, either.
Zia: I am a human being. [Sometimes] I feel like giving up. But people have shown their trust in me, I can't let them down. You always have to connect with the people to be in power.

How do you beat the stress?
Zia: Nowadays, I am grandmother. I have three grand-daughters. I get some time to look after my garden. I look after my house too.