Bangladesh's former prime ministers and bitter political rivals, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, jailed in the country's parliament complex but in two different buildings.
DHAKA: Only 22 metres separate Bangladesh's former prime ministers and bitter political rivals, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, jailed in the country's parliament complex but in two different buildings.
While Awami League chief Hasina is lodged in the house allocated to the deputy speaker in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (parliament) complex since July 16, Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia has been kept in the nearby seven-room building meant for the speaker since her arrest Monday.
Zia, in a manner of speaking, may thus be one up on her rival. But the government prosecuting them - and hundreds of others for corruption - is being even-handed or, officially, 'neutral'.
As of Monday evening, it was not certain if Hasina, who will be 60 on Sep 28, knew of the arrival of Zia, two years older than her, media reports said.
Both have been given the same facilities, said New Age newspaper Tuesday, quoting Deputy Inspector General of Prisons (Dhaka Division) Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui.
Declared sub-jail, or special jail under the prison law, this part of the complex has been vacant since parliament was dissolved and ninth general election was stalled due to political turmoil in January.
The seven-room building allocated to Zia was refurbished earlier with beds, a dressing table, sofa sets, ceiling fans, air conditioners, a fridge, a television set and utensils, Siddiqui said.
Other facilities include seven newspapers.
Security at the special jail has been tightened with the deployment of additional forces of the elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and police and jail guards, 20 of them male and four women, under the jurisdiction of a deputy jailer.
"Khaleda Zia did not look perturbed. Rather she was smiling when she was taken to the special jail, asking the attendants for her daily requirements."
Zia will stay in a room on the first floor of the two-storied house "with plenty of air and light".
"Khaleda is quite well," Siddiqui said, quoting Dr Suraiya Begum of the directorate of health who attended on her at the special jail.
The official said the BNP leader was served rice, lentil, vegetables and chicken in her lunch and rice, fish, lentil and vegetables for dinner on Monday.
If the court's rejection of bail pleas of Hasina and other political detenus is any indicator, the two women's stay in the new environment that is 'parliamentary' but not 'political', may be rather long.
Both have dominated the country's political scene since 1981 and have been prime ministers - Hasina during 1996-2001 and Zia twice, during 1991-1996 and 2001-2006.
Barely on talking terms and rarely seen at the same social gathering at the same time, the two are also accused of not allowing the country's polity to evolve.
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