It has been a week since BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been confined to her office in Gulshan, Dhaka.
Khaleda found herself stuck in the office after announcing an agitation plan to mark the first anniversary of the last general election on Jan 5 as ‘Killing of Democracy Day’.
Since then, Khaleda, who served as prime minister for more than one term, has been staying in her office chamber and the attached room.Law enforcers have besieged her office at Street 86 in Gulshan since last Saturday. Police vehicles and water cannons have been positioned to block the both ends of the street.
The BNP chief tried to go to the party’s headquarters at Naya Paltan on Saturday night and Monday afternoon but the police prevented her from doing so.
The law enforcers locked the main gate of the office when she planned to go to the party headquarters to join a party demonstration on Jan 5.
Police used pepper spray to control leaders of the party’s women front, who had gathered in the office building and chanted slogans demanding the opening of the gate.
Police unlocked the office on Thursday but continued to cordon off the building.
BNP Vice Chairperson Selima Rahman, chairperson’s advisor and former IG of police Abdul Qayum, chairperson’s press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, special aide Shamsur Rahman Shimul Bishwas, Mahbub Al Amin Dew, security co-ordinator retired Colonel Abdul Mazid, Mahila Dal General Secretary Shirin Sultana and a few other former MPs are staying in the office with Khaleda.
In addition, 43 members of the staff and Khaleda’s security personnel are also in the building.
Leaders and officials were using blankets brought for distribution among the poor.
Khaleda’s Press Secretary Khan said, “We are obliged to sleep on chairs. We are also working through this situation.”
He said the BNP chief had been suffering from respiratory problems since Jan 5 when police used pepper spray. “She is using nebuliser prescribed by doctors.”
Khaleda is regularly inquiring about her party’s agitations, Khan added.
He also said she has to receive phone calls by many people abroad inquiring about her health.
On the seventh day of the police cordon, her breakfast was brought from her son Tarique Rahman’s in-laws house.
Her sister Selima Islam and brother Shamim Eskander’s wife Kaniz Fatema were among the relatives who went to see her. – bdnews24.com
