Three extortion charges were filed against Sheikh Hasina in June 2007, which led to her arrest on July 16 that year. Those were the grounds for arresting her and detaining her for nearly a year and on parole to date.

Sheikh Hasina may have “forgiven” these businessmen for making false accusations that put her in jail, but Bangladeshi citizens should be asking to answers to two very crucial issues. First, we must know the parties involved that intimidated these businessmen to file cases against Hasina. As citizens, we have the right to have access to such information. Secondly, we must account for the total expenditures (both direct expenses and personnel salaries) for running these cases in our courts, and make the conspirators and/or the accuser to pay the government for the amount spent.

The people have voted for a change in the 2008 national election. We want to see transparencies in the ways the government runs its business. It will be reassuring if the present democratic government probes into the aforementioned issues and make available for the public the information sought from their investigation.