Newspaper Article

Two Key Opposition Leaders in Bangladesh Seized

STEVEN R. WEISMAN, Special to the New York Times

1987

Overview

''They broke the door, got inside and looted the place,'' said an American official who saw the attack. ''The role of the police was pathetic. They simply witnessed the whole thing and didn't move in until it was over.'' He said there was no evidence the rioters were directing their anger at the United States, however. The Dhaka Police Commissioner, Nasrullah Khan, accompanied Mrs. [Zia Rahman], telling her, ''Madam, I salute you,'' as he escorted her to the waiting van. Wearing a white sari as is customary for widows, she waved to supporters from the van and shouted to them to carry on. She was first driven to a police station and then to her house where she was confined under guard. Government officials disputed this, saying she was not officially under arrest, simply confined to her home. As her supporters shouted slogans on a nearby street, Mrs. [Hasina Wajed] stood at the veranda land shouted to reporters on the other side of a wall: ''The movement will continue until [H. M. Ershad]'s fall. That day is not very far.''

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: DEMONSTRATIONS AND RIOTS / Ershad, H M / POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT / Rahman, Zia / Wajed, Hasina / WAJED, HASINA (SHEIK) / WEISMAN, STEVEN R / ZIA RAHMAN, KHALEDA