Bangladesh court issues arrest warrant against ex-PM's son

A court in Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Sunday issued a warrant of arrest against the country's ex-Prime Minister Khaleda Zia's eldest son Tarique Rahman in a sedition case.

Moshiur Malek, president of Bangabandhu Foundation, a pro-ruling Bangladesh Awami League organization, filed the case over the opposition party deputy chief's comments calling Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman 'Pakbandhu (a friend of Pakistan)'.

Malek in his plea mentioned that Rahman at a program in London on Sept. 29 said his father Ziaur Rahman was the first president of Bangladesh.

Rahman, also a senior vice chairman of Khaleda's Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), called the founding father of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a 'Pakbandhu (a friend of Pakistan)'.

The plaintiff demanded punishment for his remarks which he said amounted to a distortion of the history of Bangladesh's Liberation War.

The court of Dhaka's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Lutfur Rahman Shishir, who issued the warrant on Sunday, also ordered the Detective Branch of Bangladesh Police to investigate the charge.

Rahman was arrested on March 7, 2007 on charges of corruption during the 2007-2008 military-controlled caretaker government.

He went to London after his release on bail in September 2008 for " treatment".

Since then he has still been living in London.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia often says political vendettas are to blame in her son's prosecutions during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's incumbent government against which she has been leading the opposition procession from her party. Endit