DHAKA, Oct 5: Bangladesh’s High Court asked the army-backed government on Sunday not to arrest paroled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina when she returns home this month to lead her party ahead of a Dec. 18 election, lawyers said.

The interim goverment has vowed to make the election fair and credible with the participation of all major parties to end nearly two years of emergency rule.

Hasina’s Awami League and the country’s other major party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) headed by Hasina’s arch-rival and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, have threatened to boycott the polls if barred from contesting.

Both parties have pressed the government to lift the state of emergency it imposed since it took charge in January 2007, following deadly political violence.

Hasina was expected to return home by Oct 17 following a medical trip to the United States to treat health problems caused by grenade blasts at a rally in Dhaka in 2004. Her lawyers fear she might be detained again as she was refused bail last month in two more graft cases. Khaleda Zia, also facing corruption charges, was granted bail by the High Court early last month.—Reuters