In a move that could ultimately help Bangladesh's army-backed government achieve credible elections, former prime minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka for the US on Thursday for foreign medical treatment. Hasina's Awami League, one of the country's top political parties, has been at loggerheads with the self-defined "interim authorities" over her detention on graft charges, and reluctant to commit to participating in a parliamentary election set for December. But that has changed now that Hasina has been allowed to fly to the United States for medical treatment on an 8-week parole. Before leaving, she briefly met senior leaders of the Awami League at the airport. "We assured her of the party's unity," Syed Ashraful Islam, general secretary of Awami League, told reporters. He said Hasina also asked them to prepare for the December election. Political analysts said Hasina's freedom, temporary though it may be, had moved the Awami League and government towards a "win-win situation" that would push the political process forward.
