Dhaka, Feb. 12 -- Asiya was barely a teenager during the Liberation War. More than five decades later, the memory of the Razakars -- collaborators who sided with the Pakistani army -- remains sharp in her mind.

Those memories surfaced again as she stood outside a polling station on Thursday.

"They should be ashamed. How can they dream of running Bangladesh?" she said quietly, recalling the fear and violence she witnessed as a child.

The 67-year-old had just cast her ballot at the Pirerbagh Government Primary School polling centre in Dhaka-15.

As she spoke, she drew a personal comparison - this time with BNP Chairperson Tarique Rahman.

"I am an orphan, and he is an orphan too," she said.

A BNP supporter, Asiya believes Tarique Rahman...