December 3, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 27,1423

DHAKA, Dec 2: Former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday threatened legal action against the government if it failed to substantiate allegations that she was engaged in an anti-state campaign at home and abroad.

Hasina’s warning came four days after Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan accused her of sponsoring an anti-state campaign abroad and prompting New Delhi to describe Dhaka as a nerve-centre for anti-Indian activities.

“Whatever I have said during my visits to Bangkok and New Delhi is on record. The government must prove what I had said is against the country,” she said while talking to reporters at the Zia International Airport upon her return from a nine-day visit to the Thai and Indian capitals.

“I will take the government to court if it fails to prove the allegation that I am engaged in an anti-Bangladesh campaign at home and abroad. Speaking against misdeeds of the government can never be an anti-state campaign.”

Some leaders of the BNP-led four-party ruling alliance, including a couple of ministers, blasted Hasina for what they said was her anti-state campaign abroad and portrayal of Bangladesh as a Taliban-type state.

Speaking at a rally in Dhaka, they said Sheikh Hasina had become vindictive after her defeat in the last general election and was trying to portray Bangladesh abroad as a fundamentalist state.