Hasina urges supporters to make public show of strength

Former BD PM, Awami League figures face murder probe

DHAKA:

Ousted Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday asked supporters to make a public show of strength later this week, hours after a court ruled that a murder probe against her linked to last month's unrest could proceed.

Thursday marks the anniversary of the 1975 assassination of her father, independence hero Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, during a military coup -- a date her government had declared a national holiday.

"I appeal to you to observe the National Day of Mourning on August 15 with due respect and solemnity," she said in a written statement given to journalists through her US-based son.

She asked supporters to "pray for the salvation of all souls by offering floral garlands and praying" at her childhood home in the capital Dhaka.

The landmark was until recently a museum to her father, but it was torched and vandalised by a mob hours after her fall.

The caretaker administration now running Bangladesh had said earlier in the evening that it had cancelled observance of the politically charged holiday. Tuesday's statement was Hasina's first public comment since her resignation.

She also demanded an investigation into killings and other criminal acts during the unrest that forced her out of office, with the culprits to be "identified and punished".

Police weaponry was the cause of most deaths during the protests, according to police and hospital figures previously gathered by AFP.

Hasina's call came hours after a court in Dhaka opened a murder investigation into her, two top Awami League figures and four senior police officers.

The case accuses the seven of responsibility for the death of a grocery store owner who was shot dead on July 19 as police violently suppressed protests.

He took office as "chief adviser" to a caretaker administration -- all fellow civilians bar home minister Sakhawat Hossain, a retired brigadier general -- and has said he wants to hold elections "within a few months".