BSS-72 PM-BIRTHDAY-CELEBRATION-THREE

282

ZCZC

BSS-72

PM-BIRTHDAY-CELEBRATION-THREE

During the Liberation War, Sheikh Hasina and her family were interned in a house in Dhaka. On July 27, 1971 her first child, Sajib Wazed Joy was born. Her second child Saima Wazed Hossain was born on December 9, 1972.

After assassination of her parents in 1975, Sheikh Hasina and her family were offered political asylum in India, where she stayed till 1981 when she was elected president of the Awami League in absentia. She came back to the country on May 17, 1981 when she was greeted by a mammoth crowd that extended from the Airport to Farm Gate and Manik Miah Avenue where she addressed a public meeting.

In the 1986 parliamentary election, she was elected to parliament from three different constituencies. After the overthrow of autocracy in 1990, she was elected Leader of the Opposition in the general elections that followed.

In 1996, 21 years after her father was assassinated, she led the Awami League to power and became the prime minister. In 2008, she led the Grand Alliance to an overwhelming victory acquiring 90 percent of parliament seats in the general elections. She was elected the prime minister on January 5, 2014 for the second time in a row.

Sheikh Hasina assumed office of the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term with a thumping victory in the general elections in December 2018.

On August 21, 2004, Sheikh Hasina, who was the then Leader of the Opposition for the second time, barely escaped an attempt on her life as grenades were lobbed at her public meeting on Bangabandhu Avenue in the capital. Although she survived the attack, at least 24 of those attending the meeting died and over 200 were injured, many of them Awami League leaders.

Under her leadership, Bangladesh has become a role model for development, attaining steady economic growth, becoming self-reliant in staple food-grain and making significant progress in the fields of women empowerment, agriculture, education, health, rural infrastructures, communication, energy and power, trade and commerce, ICT and the SME sectors.

MORE/SAH/ARS/2056 hrs