page_title: 1990s in Bangladesh
section_title: First Hasina administration, 1996–2001
hierarchical_section_title: 1990s in Bangladesh / Politics and National life / First Hasina administration, 1996–2001
caption_attribution_description: English: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina (right), of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, is escorted by Commander of Troops Col. Thomas M. Jordan (center), U.S. Army, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon (left) as she inspects the ceremonial honor guard during a full honor arrival ceremony at the Pentagon on Oct. 17, 2000. Hasina, who also serves as her nation's defense minister, and de Leon will meet for talks on a broad range of security issues of interest to both nations.
context_page_description: The 1990s was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1990, and ended on December 31, 1999. For Bangladesh this decade was characterized by transition to democracy, rapid urbanisation and globalization and struggle for free and fair elections. The newly earned democracy influenced the cultural activities in the decade.
context_section_description: Sheikh Hasina formed what she called a "Government of National Consensus" in June 1996, which included one minister from the Jatiya Party and another from the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. The Jatiya Party never entered into a formal coalition arrangement, and party president Hussain Muhammad Ershad withdrew his support from the government in September 1997. Only three parties had more than 10 members elected to the 1996 Parliament: the Awami League, BNP, and Jatiya Party. Jatiya Party president, Ershad, was released from prison on bail in January 1997.
  International and domestic election observers found the June 1996 election free and fair, and ultimately, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party decided to join the new Parliament. The BNP soon charged that police and Bangladesh Awami League activists were engaged in large-scale harassment and jailing of opposition activists. At the end of 1996, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party staged a parliamentary walkout over this and other grievances but returned in January 1997 under a four-point agreement with the ruling party. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party asserted that this agreement was never implemented and later staged another walkout in August 1997. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party returned to Parliament under another agreement in March 1998.
  In June 1999, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and other opposition parties again began to abstain from attending Parliament. Opposition parties staged an increasing number of nationwide general strikes, rising from six days of general strikes in 1997 to 27 days in 1999. A four-party opposition alliance formed at the beginning of 1999 announced that it would boycott parliamentary by-elections and local government elections unless the government took steps demanded by the opposition to ensure electoral fairness. The government did not take these steps, and the opposition subsequently boycotted all elections, including municipal council elections in February 1999, several parliamentary by-elections, and the Chittagong city corporation elections in January 2000.
caption: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inspects the ceremonial honour guard during a full honour arrival ceremony at the Pentagon on 17 October 2000.
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