Claiming BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s condition as critical, the party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday again demanded that the 78-year-old Begum Zia be sent abroad immediately for better treatment.
“Today when she (Khaleda Zia) is in a life-threatening situation, she is being withheld. Begum Khaleda Zia is not only a prisoner but also the number one leader of the country’s democratic movement. She served the country as prime minister thrice and leader of the opposition twice,” Fakhrul said.
He came up with the remarks while addressing a rally organised on different issues including the resignation of the government, release of Khaleda Zi and one point demand in Dhaka’s Uttara area on Friday afternoon.
Dhaka north chapter unit BNP organised the rally on a field adjacent to Abdullahpur Polwal Super Market with the participation of thousands of leaders and activists.
Fakhrul alleged that the 'fascist' government is pushing Khaleda Zia to death. However, she keeps fighting against the government from the prison.
Fearing Begum Zia’s condition, the BNP secretary general said the chairperson must be sent abroad for treatment; her condition may deteriorate soon.
Despite demands from her family, personal physicians and BNP, the government is not taking any step to send Khaleda Zia out of the country for treatment, he said, “She should be sent to an advanced treatment centre for the sake of treatment on humanitarian grounds.”
Fakhrul said there are examples of sending imprisoned people abroad for treatment, as Sheikh Hasina was sent to America for treatment during the caretaker government.
Leaders from the party’s central body and north unit among others spoke at the rally.
Earlier in the day, the BNP chairperson was shifted to the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) from the cabin of the Evercare Hospital on the advice of her medical board.
The 78-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
Since her conditional release in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the hospital under a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.
Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Jail after 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 coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.
