SHEIKH HASINA TO TRAVEL TO THE U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 000423 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/13/2012 TAGS: PREL KDEM BG SUBJECT: SHEIKH HASINA TO TRAVEL TO THE U.S. Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough, reason para 1.4 d. ¶1. (C) Summary. Sheikh Hasina told us that after a three-week visit with family in the U.S., she will return to Bangladesh, even if she has to smuggle herself across the border. End Summary. ¶2. (C) On March 13, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina came to the Embassy to renew her visa and pay a courtesy call on Charge. She was accompanied by party Presidium Member Kazi Zafarullah and retired General Tariq Siddiqui, a Hasina relative by marriage and her chief of security. A/DCM also sat in. ¶3. (C) Hasina stated that she and Zafarullah would depart Bangladesh early March 15 to arrive in Washington on the following day's British Airways flight from London. Her plan is to spend one week in Virginia visiting her son and his wife, who has just had a cesarean section delivery followed by emergency gall stone surgery that was not a success. The second week, she said, would be spent in Miami visiting her pregnant daughter, and the third week would be back in Virginia. Hasina expressed great concern for the health of her daughter-in-law and her desire to help care for her now that the daughter's mother has had to return to her own family elsewhere. ¶4. (C) Asked if she had any concerns that she would be prevented from returning to Bangladesh or if she had sought assurances from the government that she would be allowed to return, she replied, "Why should I?" She insisted she has done nothing wrong, that corruption charges filed against her by the previous government were baseless, and that she would return to Bangladesh, even if she had to go to India and smuggle herself across the border. ¶5. (C) Hasina credited the current government with some positive actions, but criticized it for failing to move toward elections. The constitutional oath used to swear in the government advisers on January 12, she said, limits their tenure to 90 days, but clearly this provision would not be respected. She predicted the Bangladeshi people would lose patience and turn on the government if they were denied an election. ¶6. (C) Hasina twice urged the USG to convey to the GOB its support for prompt elections, its opposition to the now total ban on political activity, and its rejection of the military's growing role in government affairs. ¶7. (C) Comment: Zafarullah and another Hasina confidant, political secretary Saber Chowdhury, had advised her that her departure from Bangladesh now would look like flight and surrender to widely perceived military pressure for her to leave the country. Publicly and to us, however, Hasina's line is she is just going temporarily to visit family. PASI