Is Ahmed doing a Musharraf?

VIOLENT PROTEST: Four political activists died in the agitations against the caretaker government.

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Keywords: Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina

New Delhi: Bangladesh police have filed murder charges against former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina.

Four political activists died in the agitations marking opposition parties' protests against the caretaker government last year.

The Bangladesh police claim that former prime minister Sheikh Hasina is responsible for them.

They say she masterminded the killings of four supporters of a rival political party during street violence in Dhaka last October.

The action is part of an ongoing clean up drive in Bangladeshi politics.

Sheikh Hasina is in Washington but was due to return to Bangladesh on April 14 to face corruption charges. She is the first party chief to face graft and corruption charges.

Hasina, who has been abroad since January, says she will return to face both the murder and the corruption charges against her.

The police have also filed murder charges against 46 Awami party colleagues, and 10 leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Meanwhile former Bangladeshi prime minister, Khaleda Zia, whose son has been arrested on corruption charges is now under a virtual house arrest.

The new caretaker government under Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed has postponed elections due in January and says no polls can be held until it has dealt with the endemic corruption in the country.

But its promise of a cleanup is beginning to look like a clear out plan for its politicians.

Newspapers are speculating that the government is seeking to force both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia into political exile – in much the same way General Musharraf did.