Sheikh Rehana Siddiq
Rehana at the Bangabandhu Bhaban during the visit of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in 2013
Born (1955-09-13) 13 September 1955 (age 68)
Tungipara, East Bengal, Pakistan (now Dhaka, Bangladesh)
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 current Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the daughter of the first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.[4][5] She is also the mother of Tulip Siddiq, a British Labour Party politician and elected Member of Parliament (MP) for the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.

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] She was in West Germany[8][9] with her elder sister Sheikh Hasina when her family was assassinated in a military coup by the Bangladesh Army on August 15, 1975.[10][11] She was 20 years old at that time.

Career

After the assassination of Bangladesh's founding father 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 Bangbandhu Murder. The conference was attended by international jurists, European civil society members and her political colleagues in exile.[12] During her exile in the UK in 1980s, Sheikh Rehana assisted Bangladesh Awami League to reach out to European Civil Society and UN Organisations on the plight of Bangladeshi people under undemocratic and brutal military dictatorship it had witnessed from 1975 to 1991. [13]

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. [14] Sheikh Rehana was made councilor of Awami League Dhaka South unit in 2016.[15]

Security & residence

Rehena was allotted a government house/plot in Dhanmondi for a "Token" 100 taka in 2001 by the government of Bangladesh.[citation needed] 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. But a change of heart saw her return the house to the government despite obtaining High Court order in her favour.[16]

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.[17] 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,[18] 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. Practice of extending such security protection is not rare for persons with high security risk to their lives. The government also announced free utility for life for her and her family.[19]

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.[20] Her son, Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby, is a councilor of Bangladesh Awami League.[21] 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.[22]

Rehana often accompanies 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.[23]

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 (2018-09-16). "Sheikh Rehana: A sister behind shine and success". The Asian Age (Commentary). Bangladesh.
  3. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 60th birthday today". The Daily Ittefaq. Archived from the original on 2016-11-04. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  4. ^ Hossain, Kazi Mobarak (2016-10-12). "PM Hasina's sister Rehana, daughter Putul will attend Awami League National Council". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  5. ^ "Bangabandhu's grandchildren Bobby, Putul not joining Awami League council as councillors". bdnews24.com. 2016-10-20. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  6. ^ "I would rather die than sign any false statement". The Daily Star. 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  7. ^ "শেখ রেহানা, এক নিভৃতচারী মহীয়সী". Sarabangla. 2022-09-13. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
  8. ^ "Hasina revisits Delhi, her home from 1975-81". bdnews24.com. 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  9. ^ Mahbub, Sumon (2011-08-15). "'None wanted to shelter Mujib's daughters'". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  10. ^ "Bangladesh govt mulling commission to unmask 1975 coup plotters". Deccan Chronicle. 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  11. ^ "Nation must repay the 'debt of blood' to Bangabandhu, martyrs, Hasina says". bdnews24.com. 2016-08-11. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  12. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 1979 speech was 1st global call for justice against Bangabandhu killers". The Daily Sun. 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  13. ^ "দুঃখজয়ী শেখ রেহানা". Dainik Bangla (in Bengali). 2023-09-13. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  14. ^ "Sheikh Rehana becomes adviser of Tungipara AL". Dhaka Tribune. 2017-07-30. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  15. ^ "Sheikh Rehana, Putul made AL councilors". The Daily Star. 2016-10-14. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  16. ^ "Sheikh Rehana's 1979 speech was 1st global call for justice against Bangabandhu killers". The Daily New Nation. 2014-05-07. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  17. ^ Ahmed, Shamim (2014-05-07). "Sheikh Rehana getting a govt house in Gulshan". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  18. ^ "A life haunted by assassins all along". The Business Standard. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  19. ^ "Bangabandhu family to get more security, free utility, foreign treatment". The Daily Star. 2015-05-25. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  20. ^ "It's too much". The Daily Star. 2016-02-18. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  21. ^ "Radwan Mujib Siddiq Bobby joining Awami League council with cousin Sajeeb Wazed Joy". bdnews24.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-31. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  22. ^ Pasha, Syed Nahas (2018-10-27). "Sheikh Rehana proud of Tulip Siddiq for her victory in British election". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  23. ^ "Sheikh Hasina arrives in London for Charles III's coronation". bdnews24.com. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
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