In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star Thursday night (Star will also interview BNP chairperson), she said that the 21-point reform proposal that her colleagues drew up outside her involvement needs further amendment on many points.

She believes not only the party president's post but no other party position should as well be held by the same person for more than two terms. Not only the chief of the party should be barred from becoming prime minister but all central committee office bearers should be prohibited from becoming ministers or state ministers.

"One group of people should run the party and another set should run the government," Hasina explained.

Plagued by corruption allegations of all hues and senior party leaders either in jail or distanced from her, the former premier still shows unwavering determination that she would come out strong by disproving all charges if she is given a fair chance to fight.

"I can always prove that I had never taken any money from anyone. My bank accounts and tax returns are there to speak for my claim," Hasina said. "The people are still with me and they will not believe an iota of the propaganda against me. I know a conspiracy is afoot to file a string of cases against me. But I am not afraid. I am willing to face anything for the people."

The embattled leader seemed to have shed some weight but still looked resolute during the interview. She spoke her heart out on the recent purge of Awami League politicians, which she dubbed as an attempt to smear her and party's image.

During the hour-long interview, Hasina also talked about the attempts to float new political parties, the caretaker government, the graft charges against her and her future which seems bleaker than ever.

The Daily Star correspondent had to negotiate through a number of security barriers to reach Hasina at her Sudha Sadan residence. At the entrance, he had to face multiple questioning sessions by the law enforcers.

The lounge of her residence that once used to be teeming with party leaders and workers has now virtually become an office of plainclothesmen. Only a few low-key leaders and personal staff were seen inside the house.

About the 21-point proposal reportedly drafted by the senior party leaders who had tailed her wherever she went in the last 26 years but have kept aloof for the past two months, Hasina smilingly said she does not know who actually has drawn up the proposals.

She added that when indoor politics is prohibited, it would be quite interesting to know who prepared those and how.

"Anyway, I have got the proposals and feel that a number of changes should be made to those," said the AL president with a mix of scorn and resolve in her voice. If one cannot be in the post of party president twice then the same should be applicable to other posts, she added.

“Again, if the party chief cannot become the head of the government then no one--from a presidium member to the all secretaries--should be allowed to be in the cabinet. Earlier, a similar system was there when Bangabandhu left his ministerial portfolio and got back to the general secretary's post," she said without a trace of hesitancy.

The former prime minister said one group would run the party and the other would run the government. That's how it all had been in the party constitution. "But we had to amend the constitution as no other political party had such provisions in theirs," said Hasina, a former student leader.

"The BNP constitution gives its party chief the right to head the government. By seeing these, our leaders wanted to change our constitution to adjust to others," she added.

VIEWS ON INTRA-PARTY REFORMS
Hasina said if the ban on politics goes then we will obviously bring reforms in the party. It is time to resume not only the indoor politics but politics in general as lots of time have already gone by.

Reform is a process that calls for councils to be held with leaders and workers from across the country. "The government must allow political activities or else how will we carry out reforms?" she asked.

She said, "I have already collected constitutions of major political parties from various countries and commissioned a team comprising Syed Ashraful Islam, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan, Abdul Mannan Khan, and Dr Dipu Moni, among others to examine those and prepare a draft.

"Usually, we form different committees ahead of every council and they come up with proposals for reforms in the party constitution, manifesto, and the economic policies. Those recommendations are placed before the AL Central Working Committee and implemented depending on the leaders' opinion."

Moreover, she said, reforms are not to be confined to political parties only. It was the AL that had placed detailed proposals for electoral reforms for the first time in the history of Bangladesh.

"The onus is on the caretaker government to implement the 31-point proposal [submitted by the AL] for electoral reforms. We want to see how many of those have been realised.

"If our proposals were executed to the letter, it would obviate the need for further reforms," she said.

About some of her party colleagues meeting without her, she said, "Well, the government should answer to this question. When there's a ban on indoor politics, how come those meetings took place? Isn't it contradictory?

"I have heard that they meet at luxurious restaurants. I wonder who pays for those."

She argues, "The government says it will not lift the ban soon but at the same time it allows some people room for intrigue and betrayal, and instigate attempts to split the political parties. Aren't these political activities? And don't they expose the double standards that this government applies'?"

She added that the law should be allowed to take its own course. The government must not pursue the policy of differential treatment.

ABOUT EFFORTS TOWARDS NEW PARTIES
Asked for her reaction about the subterranean move to float new political parties, she said, "It seems like the intelligence agencies are out to form a new political party by whatever means it takes. They might use force, torture or entice the politicians into the fold.

"Besides, a group of politicians with questionable track records are already there to jump on the bandwagon. Now what about their wealth statements?

"I'm afraid if a new outfit is formed with them the election would surely be rigged. Those who will be in power through a stage-managed election will waste no time in plundering the national wealth.

If it becomes that easy to make it to the parliament then how those to be elected shall be held accountable, she questioned.

Queried what she believes has led to the current situation, Hasina said the "unbridled corruption and misrule of the BNP-Jamaat coalition have brought the country to a point where it now risks losing democracy".

"Their lust for power and fortune, and patronage of crime and militancy--all have disgraced the political fraternity. Even those who have long been working to entrench democracy and the rule of law are now being subjected to a wholesale character assassination.

"The corruption charges levelled against me and my fellow partymen are baseless.

"The motive behind filing false cases against us is to belittle the politicians. On the one hand, they are backing a bunch of crooked political leaders but on the other, they are harassing the ones they don't like," observed Hasina.

ON CORRUPTION CHARGES
Sheikh Hasina flatly denies ever having been involved in any corruption. She said the charges brought against her are false. "I have heard that 30 similar cases will be filed against me. They will probably file cases for every development work we have done between 1996 and 2001," she said jokingly.

"If cases are filed for my contribution to the country's development, then one day cases will be filed against the caretaker government as well for everything they are doing now …cases will be filed for every purchase they are making for civil, military, police or other sectors," said the former premier.

People are being coerced into bringing charges against her, she claims adding that some are being lured into filing extortion cases against her.

"I just don't understand what makes the government take such an attitude towards me. Earlier, when an extortion case was filed I got back to the country. Because I knew it was utterly false and the almighty Allah and the people are with me. I always have a strong confidence in my people and they won't believe the falsehood being spread," she said.

"Why should it be extortion when individuals having allegiance to Awami League contribute funds for running the party?" questioned the AL chief.

It's a bad precedent and it will backfire on those who are doing this, she said adding that no one can say for sure that they won't be charged similarly in future.

"The BNP-Jamaat alliance too failed to heed the lessons of history while in power. Did they ever know that such an irony awaited them?" she asked.

Hasina warned that overdoing is never good for anyone. Those who do excesses always risk sliding into the pit they dig themselves.

"I want to say it loud and clear that filing false cases to harass me and disgrace me and my family in the public eye is not right. Those who [government] are doing this might have to face the similar fate someday," said Hasina, once a student leader.

"I can say unequivocally that I never demanded money from anyone. It's beyond my nature. Even in my childhood I would not ask my mother to buy anything for me," she continued.

She said people voluntarily donate to the party fund. Every political party in our country depends on donations and our workers and supporters have always been generous in contributing to the party's cause.

Asked if the party will cease to be the way it is in the event of her being detained, Hasina defiantly said things will be okay once the government will allow political activities. "I know the countrymen, and my party workers and leaders very well," she added.

"They [conspirators] made at least 19 attempts on my life. Failing to wipe me off the face of the earth, they are now out to eliminate me politically," Hasina said adding that she has resigned herself to the conspiracies that she believes would go on as long as she is dedicated to the betterment of the country.

"I know keeping faith in people is the most important thing if I'm to beat the plots. People know it's all a game and they also know who the players are," she said referring to the circumstances she's in.

WHAT IF SHE'S ARRESTED
According to the party constitution, the senior most presidium member will take over as acting president. Though it's [the question] kind of irrelevant in the present context when there's a state of emergency in place. The partymen had decided that Zillur Rahman will lead the organisation in my absence.

ABOUT WEALTH
Asked why she does not declare her assets when she wants the caretaker government advisers to do so, Hasina said those who seek others' wealth statements should produce theirs first.

She said she has already submitted her wealth accounts to the Election Commission. Of the bank accounts shown, one was opened in 1969, one in 1975, one in 1981 and another in 1986. "Tk 2-crore shown was in the account opened in 1986 when for the first time I became a member of parliament," she said elaborating on her bank balance.

The sum that I started to deposit in 1986 grew to be Tk 1 crore in 93 and Tk 2 crore currently.

I have only one fixed deposit that I opened in 1979 with Tk 20,000. I don't know what that amount has added up to over the years.

About the account she holds jointly with her sister Sheikh Rehana, she said, "The money came from my household income and from our warehouse leasing. Some came from Tungipara from our father's property."

She went on, "Actually, I don't know the exact size of our property in Tungipara. My grandparents' joint property there was yet to be distributed to the next generation. The land of my parents and grandfather is clustered together and the income from that goes to our joint account."

To sum up, she said, her family runs mostly on inherited agricultural land and products.

"I don't own any house in Dhaka. The house I'm living now is my husband's. Despite a long stay in the UK we don't have any property there either," she observed.

I made a resolution after 1975 that I won't make a penny for me. I opened a fixed deposit account so that I can run my family after retirement.

"Nothing to be worried," she said adding that the fixed deposits and the lands she has are enough to lead a humble life.

RETIREMENT
Asked if she will retire from politics as she had announced she would do once she is 57, the AL chief said she is ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of the people.

"I considered going into retirement in 2001. But as I saw my partymen being persecuted after the 2001 election, I changed my mind. I'll be no more in politics once the basic rights of the people are ensured," she observed.

THE BANGLADESH SHE ENVISIONS
The people of Bangladesh are unfortunate for whenever an opportunity comes for them to step ahead, conspiracy gets in the way. For instance, she said, martial law was declared after the Jukta Front election and the father of the nation was killed after the independence. If he were alive, the country would not have to look up to Singapore or Malaysia, rather it would have been a model for others.

"Again in 2001, when we had made the country self-reliant in food, expanded the commerce and brought back confidence among people, the election was rigged to defeat us."

Detailing successes of the AL government in 1996-2001, she described those years as golden rule.

WHO ARE BEHIND 'CONSPIRACY’
Those who have been doing it for years are at it again, she said when questioned who she means when she speaks of plots.

"Vested interest groups here shelter and use the corrupt elements and victimise those who work for the welfare of the society. They kill the popular and patriotic leaders and individuals.

"They fear popularity and patriotism," she said.

The ones who want to keep the nation mired in misery and those who never wanted the independence are the real conspirators, said the former premier.