Opposition Leader in Parliament Sheikh Hasina was born on 28
September, 1947 at Tungipara under Gopalgonj district. She is
the eldest of five children of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
She graduated from the University of Dhaka in 1973. She
was elected Vice President of the Students Union of Government
Intermediate Girls’ College. She was a member of the Student
league unit of Dhaka University and Secretary of the Student
league unit of Rokeya Hall. She actively participated in movements
since her student life.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the members of his family
was killed on the night of 15 August 1975. Sheikh Hasina and
her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were the only survivors as
they were in West Germany at that time. Later she went to the
United Kingdom. Sheikh Hasina lived in self-exile in New Delhi.
Ending six years in exile, she returned home finally on 17 May
1981 when Ziaur Rahman was President.
In the parliamentary election held in 1986, she won three
seats. She was elected Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Her party took part in the historic mass movement against autocratic
rule in 1990.
Following the election of 1991 Sheikh Hasina became Leader
of the Opposition in the country’s Fifth Parliament. She also
played an active role in the Parliament towards changing the
Presidential system into the Parliamentary one.
Sheikh Hasina steered a movement for Non-party Caretaker
Government. The provision for Non-Party Caretaker Government
was eventually incorporated in the Constitution in March 1996.
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At the call of Sheikh Hasina a large number of people of all
walks of life expressed solidarity with the movement centering
“Janatar Mancha”. In the parliamentary election, held on 12
June 1996, Awami League emerged as the majority party and she
assumed the office of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh on 23
June 1996.
Her government signed the 30- year Ganges Water Sharing
Treaty with India, Peace Accord on Chittagong Hill Tracts and
inaugurated the Bangabandhu Bridge on the River Jamuna.
Sheikh Hasina was conferred on Doctor of Law by the Boston
University of the USA on 6 February 1997 and the Waseda University
of Japan on 4 July 1997, Desikottama (Doctor of Liberature,
honoris causa) by Visva-Bharati University of West Bengal, India
on 28 January 1999. Dhaka University conferred Honorary ‘Doctor
of Laws’ on her on 18 December, 1999.
Sheikh Hasina was awarded UNESCO’s Houphouet-Biogny Peace
Prize for 1998 for the agreement on Chittagong Hill Tracts.
Sheikh Hasina received Pearl S. Buck Award ’99 on 9 April
2000 by Randolph Macon Women’s College of USA. The UN Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO) awarded her the ‘CERES’ medal
on 2 August, 1999. The All India Peace Council awarded her ‘Mother
Teresa Award’ for 1998 and the Mahatma M K Gandhi Foundation
of Oslo, Norway ‘M. K. Gandhi Award’ for 1998.
She has authored several books. She performed Haj and
Umrah several times.
She is married to Dr. Wajed Mia, a nuclear scientist,
having one son and one daughter.
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