BNP leaders fail to meet Khaleda on Eid

Senior Correspondent: BNP senior leaders were not allowed to meet their chairperson Khaleda Zia at the Old Dhaka Central Jail in the capital on the Eid-ul-Fitr day on Saturday.

Senior BNP leaders, including standing committee members and vice chairmen, along with nearly two hundred party leaders and activists headed for the jail gate around 12:15pm to meet Khaleda.

Police, however, obstructed them nearly half a kilometre away from the jail gate as they had no permission from the jail authorities to meet Khaleda.

Talking to reporters after being obstructed, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they sought permission from the authorities concerned three days back.

“As per the rules, prisoners can receive visitors on Eid day, but police are not allowing us to meet our beloved leader. It’s very painful,” he said.

Among others, BNP standing committee members Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Nazrul Islam, vice chairmen Barkatullah Bulu, Abdul Awal Mintoo, AZM Zahid Hossain, Ahmed Azam Khan and party chairperson’s adviser Joynal Abedin Faruk went to meet Khaleda at the jail.

After waiting for half an hour, the BNP leaders left the place failing to meet her.

Meanwhile, leaders and activists of the party chanted various slogans, demanding immediate release of their chairperson from the jail.

Earlier in the day, Mirza Fakhrul along with BNP leaders and activists went to its founder Ziaur Rahman’s grave at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar and offered fateha there.

On February 8, Khaleda Zia was sent to jail after a special court sentenced her to five years' rigorous imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
 

risingbd/Dhaka/June 16, 2018/Reza/A K Azad