Dhaka, May 12 – BNP on Saturday night voiced deep concern as the party said the jail authorities has not been allowing its ailing Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s relatives to meet her over the last one week.“We’ve been observing that our chairperson Khaleda Zia is not allowed to meet her family members. They met her for the last time on May 4. We’re seriously worried over the matter,” said BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
He came up with the allegation at an emergency press conference at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office after a meeting of the party standing committee members.
The BNP leader said Khaleda’s relatives repeatedly requested the jail authorities to allow them to visit Khaleda, but they denied them permission on security ground. “We can’t understand how the security will be harmed if her family members meet her in jail amid the government’s security.”
Fakhrul said they tried their best to know the current physical condition of Khaleda, but failed. “We’re not getting any information about her health condition.”
He demanded the government immediately allow Khaleda’s family members to meet her in Old Dhaka central jail.
The BNP leader feared that their chairperson’s health condition is deteriorating gradually for lack of proper treatment in jail.
Fakhrul urged the government to allow Khaleda receive treatment in a specialised hospital in the capital.
On February 8 last, the Dhaka Special Court-5 convicted the former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson and sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. She was then sent to old central jail at Nazimuddin Road in the city. – UNB
