BNP to stage countrywide demo on Friday

Senior Correspondent: BNP has announced a countrywide demonstration programme including the capital on Friday demanding immediate release of its Chairperson Khaleda Zia from jail and better treatment of her.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the announcement at a press conference at the party’s Nayapaltan central office in the capital on Sunday.

He said their programme is also meant for registering the party’s protest against the government’s inhuman attitude towards Khaleda by keeping her in jail without treatment.

Fakhrul said the programme will be held at all district towns and upazila headquarters on Friday.

“We hope the authorities concerned will take necessary steps in this regard, and allow us to exercise our democratic rights,” the BNP leader added.

“Our leader (Khaleda) has been suffering from fever for the last few days. Her relatives could not meet her yesterday (Saturday) as the pain in her knees aggravated…we again call upon the government to release her and ensure her better treatment,” Fakhrul said.

He alleged that the government wants to remove Khaleda Zia from politics through its ‘vindictive and barbaric’ attitude towards her. “A 73-yer-old person has been deprived of treatment. Sheikh Hasina and her government will have to take the responsibility if anything bad happens to her,” he warned.

On February 8 last, a special court here convicted former Prime Minister Khaleda and sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Since then, she has been in jail.


risingbd/Dhaka/July 15, 2018/Reza/AI