Sheikh Rehana

Sheikh Rehana Siddiq
Rehana in 2023
Born (1955-09-13) 13 September 1955 (age 69)
Tungipara, East Bengal, Pakistan
Political partyBangladesh Awami League
SpouseShafique Ahmed Siddique[1]
Children
Parents
RelativesSee Tungipara Sheikh family
Family

Sheikh Rehana Siddiq (born 13 September 1955) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician.[3] She is the younger sister of the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the daughter of the first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[4] She is also the mother of Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party politician and elected Member of Parliament and City Minister.[5]

Early life

Rehana was 4th child of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, and Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, a housewife. She was placed under house arrest in Dhanmondi along with her family by the Pakistan Army during Bangladesh Liberation War.[6] She passed matriculation examination from Shaheen School.[7][8] She was in West Germany[9][10] with her elder sister Sheikh Hasina when her family was assassinated in a military coup by the Bangladesh Army on 15 August 1975.[11][12] She was 20 years old at that time.[13]

Career

After the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Rehana and her elder sister Sheikh Hasina took political refuge in India first and later to the United Kingdom. She had played an instrumental role in raising international awareness on the brutal and unlawful assassination of her entire family. After relentless campaign in different European countries, in the year 1979 in Sweden, Sheikh Rehana held the first international conference to call for an impartial trial on Bangabandhu Murder. The conference was attended by international jurists, European civil society members and her political colleagues in exile.[14] During her exile in the UK in 1980s, Sheikh Rehana assisted Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) to reach out to European Civil Society and UN Organizations on the plight of Bangladeshi people under undemocratic and brutal military dictatorship it had witnessed from 1975 to 1991.[15]

Between the year 2007-08, while Sheikh Hasina was imprisoned under the emergency rule of Fakhruddin Ahmed’s military backed caretaker government, Sheikh Rehana on Hasina's behalf secretly organised Awami League and other political parties to bring back democratic elected government in Dhaka.[16][17] Sheikh Rehana was made councilor of BAL Dhaka South unit in 2016.[18]

Residence and security

She was allotted a government house/plot in Dhanmondi for a "Token" 100 taka in 2001 by the government of Bangladesh.[19] Bangladesh government has a policy and law to allot government plots to prominent personalities, and as such this allotment was made to her considering her position as the country's father of the nation's daughter and the resulting security threat to her and her family members. Government has allotted such lands to many prominent political, social and cultural personalities in the past and still continues to do so. The first allocation was cancelled when Bangladesh Nationalist Party came to power. Later the decision to award the allotment was upheld in the High Court of Bangladesh following a Writ Petition filed by Sheikh Rehana.[20] But a change of heart saw her return the house to the government despite obtaining High Court order in her favour.[21]

In 2014 she was allocated a house in Gulshan after Awami League came to power for a token price of 1001 taka following the High Court order which upheld the legality of her prior allotment.[22][23] Given the violent history of brutal assassination of Sheikh Mujib family in 1975, and later attempts to assassinate Sheikh Hasina, which was 19 times in total,[24] and very high security risk towards the immediate Mujib family members, in 2015 she and her children were given lifelong protection by the government of Bangladesh through the Special Security Force.[25][26] Practice of extending such security protection is not rare for persons with high security risk to their lives.[27] The government also announced free utility for life for her and her family.[28] However, the interim government decided to cancel this law.[29][30] On 29 August 2024, the interim government decided to cancelled this law.[31] Then on September 9, 2024, an ordinance was issued repealing this law.[32][33]

Personal life

Rehana is married to Shafique Ahmed Siddique, retired professor of Department of Accounting & Information Systems, Faculty of Business Studies (FBS), University of Dhaka.[34] Her son, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, is a councilor of Bangladesh Awami League.[35] Her daughter, Tulip Siddiq, is a Member of Parliament for the Labour Party in the United Kingdom House of Commons for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency, her other daughter is Azmina Siddiq.[36]

Rehana often accompanied Sheikh Hasina on her official trips including the state funeral of Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom in 2022 and Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023.[37] She also accompanied Hasina after she resigned as Prime Minister and fled Bangladesh to India during the Non-cooperation movement (2024) on 5 August.[38]

References

  1. ^ "Prof. Dr. Shafiq Ahmed Siddique Nominated as New Chairman of BUBT Trust" (PDF). Bangladesh University of Business and Technology (Press release).
  2. ^ Chowdhury, Shoeb (16 September 2018). "Sheikh Rehana: A sister behind shine and success". The Asian Age (Commentary). Bangladesh.
  3. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 60th birthday today". Ittefaq. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  4. ^ Hossain, Kazi Mobarak (12 October 2016). "PM Hasina's sister Rehana, daughter Putul will attend Awami League National Council". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  5. ^ "UK lawmaker Tulip Siddiq appointed as City Minister". Reuters. 9 July 2024.
  6. ^ "I would rather die than sign any false statement". The Daily Star. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Ex-Shaheens introduce Sheikh Kamal Memorial Scholarship". www.theindependentbd.com. Archived from the original on 20 July 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  8. ^ "শেখ রেহানা, এক নিভৃতচারী মহীয়সী". Sarabangla (in Bengali). 13 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Hasina revisits Delhi, her home from 1975-81". bdnews24.com. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  10. ^ Mahbub, Sumon (15 August 2011). "'None wanted to shelter Mujib's daughters'". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  11. ^ "Bangladesh govt mulling commission to unmask 1975 coup plotters". Deccan Chronicle. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  12. ^ "Nation must repay the 'debt of blood' to Bangabandhu, martyrs, Hasina says". bdnews24.com. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Mu jib Reported Overthrown and Killed in a Coup by the Bangladesh Military". The New York Times. 15 August 1975. Archived from the original on 27 June 2024.
  14. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 1979 speech was 1st global call for justice against Bangabandhu killers". The Daily Sun. 13 August 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  15. ^ "দুঃখজয়ী শেখ রেহানা". Dainik Bangla (in Bengali). 13 September 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  16. ^ "BD SC gives green light for Hasina trial". Dawn. 25 January 2008.
  17. ^ "Sheikh Rehana becomes adviser of Tungipara AL". Dhaka Tribune. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Sheikh Rehana, Putul made AL councilors". The Daily Star. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  19. ^ Liton, Shakhawat (9 May 2014). "Legally right, morally not". The Daily Star.
  20. ^ "Rehana files writ seeking HC stay on handing over her land to Justice KM Hasan". bdnews24.com. 15 May 2006.
  21. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 1979 speech was 1st global call for justice against Bangabandhu killers". The Daily New Nation. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  22. ^ "Rehana likely to get a house in Gulshan". Dhaka Tribune. 7 May 2014.
  23. ^ Ahmed, Shamim (7 May 2014). "Sheikh Rehana getting a govt house in Gulshan". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  24. ^ "A life haunted by assassins all along". The Business Standard. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  25. ^ "Bangabandhu family to get more security, free utility, foreign treatment". The Daily Star. 25 May 2015.
  26. ^ "19 privileges for Bangabandhu family". 26 May 2015.
  27. ^ "Cabinet clears SSF Bill to increase security for Bangabandhu's family". Dhaka Tribune. 17 May 2021.
  28. ^ "Tighter security for Bangabandhu family=". bdnews24.com. 26 May 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  29. ^ "Security laws for Bangabandhu's family members to be cancelled". The Business Standard. 28 August 2024. Archived from the original on 28 August 2024.
  30. ^ "Writ challenges laws for Bangabandhu's family members". The Daily Star. 26 August 2024.
  31. ^ "Draft to repeal security act for Bangabandhu's family members approved". The Daily Star. 29 August 2024. Archived from the original on 29 August 2024.
  32. ^ "বঙ্গবন্ধু পরিবারের বিশেষ নিরাপত্তা আইন বাতিল করে অধ্যাদেশ জারি". Daily Inqilab (in Bengali). 9 September 2024. Archived from the original on 9 September 2024.
  33. ^ "Law providing special security to Bangabandhu's family abolished". Dhaka Tribune. 9 September 2024.
  34. ^ "It's too much". The Daily Star. 18 February 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  35. ^ "Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby joining Awami League council with cousin Sajeeb Wazed Joy". bdnews24.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  36. ^ Pasha, Syed Nahas (27 October 2018). "Sheikh Rehana proud of Tulip Siddiq for her victory in British election". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  37. ^ "Sheikh Hasina arrives in London for Charles III's coronation". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
  38. ^ "Sheikh Hasina's final hours as a hated autocrat". BBC. 7 August 2024. Archived from the original on 6 August 2024. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
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