People won't forgive govt if anything bad happens to Khaleda, says BNP

Allow her to go abroad for advanced treatment, demands Fakhrul

FE Team | Published: June 12, 2022 23:53:21

Renewing their party's demand for allowing ailing Khaleda Zia to go abroad for advanced treatment, BNP on Sunday warned that people won't forgive the government if anything bad happens to her for lack of treatment, reports UNB.
"We would like to make a final call for releasing Khaleda Zia immediately and sending her abroad for advanced treatment. Otherwise, you must shoulder all the responsibilities...," BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said.
Speaking at a rally, the BNP leader also said the government has to take the responsibility for ensuring Khaleda's advanced treatment abroad.
"Otherwise, if anything bad happens to her, the country's people won't pardon you. They'll drag you down from power," he warned.
BNP's Dhaka north and south units arranged the rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club demanding prompt steps for ensuring advanced treatment of Khaleda Zia abroad.
Several thousand leaders and activists of BNP from different wards of the capital took part in the rally with banners and festoons.
Fakhrul said the government has long been obstructing Khaleda from going abroad for treatment though convicted ruling party leaders are availing of the same scope.
"Salim Uddin and Kalim Uddin all can go abroad for treatment. The convicted people also can go abroad for treatment. Some people can go there by air ambulance. Then why is she (Khaleda) not allowed to be treated abroad? " he questioned.
The BNP leader also said the Awami League government is not releasing Khaleda and allowing her to go abroad as it is afraid of her popularity.
Fakhrul alleged that the government has kept Khaleda confined by convicting her in 'false' cases through 'controlling' the judiciary and the Anti-Corruption Commission in a planned way only to eliminate her from politics.
Khaleda, a former prime minister, has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung and eye problems.
The former prime minister was sent to Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018.
Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the government temporarily freed Khaleda from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the conditions that she will stay at her Gulshan home and will not leave the country.