BNP Leaders To Visit Khaleda Zia In Gulshan On Eid Day

Senior BNP leaders and family members will meet party chief Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan residence Firoza on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr on Thursday.

Party leaders will also visit the grave of BNP founder General Ziaur Rahman and offer prayers for his departed soul, media cell member Shairul Kabir Khan told Bangla Tribune on Wednesday.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will spend Eid at her rented house, Firoza, in Gulshan.

In previous years, Party General Secretary Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Standing Committee members visited Khaleda Zia at her residence. They also met with her at the hospital on different occasions while she was staying ober there for her treatment.

Her son, Tarique Rahman, the acting party chairman who is facing jail terms in several cases, will exchange views with party supporters in London. He has been living in the UK since 2008.

On March 27, the government extended the suspension of her jail term by six months. However, she will not be able to travel abroad and will have to seek medical treatment in Bangladesh, according to the government order.

The party has been demanding her unconditional release and permission to travel abroad for advanced treatment. The former prime minister has been suffering from various illnesses and receiving treatment at Evercare Hospital.

Khaleda Zia last exchanged Eid greetings at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre on June 26, 2017. Since she went to jail on February 8, 2018, the severity of her condition has fluctuated. 

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, she went to the hospital several times after being released on condition by the government's executive order on March 25, 2020. In the middle of last year, her physical condition deteriorated.

BNP' media wing spokes person Shairul Kabir Khan said: “There is no difference between the emotions and feelings of the party chairperson and the emotions of the leaders and workers at all levels of the party. We feel the shadow of the chairperson every moment.”

He hoped that Khaleda Zia would be freed from the “vindictive torture of this government” and always stay healthy.

Meanwhile, BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi has said the people of the country are going to celebrate Eid on Thursday in a festive mood, but there is no joy in the families of BNP leaders and activists.

A sad ambience is prevailing in these families as someone has lost a leg while someone has lost an eye after torture by law enforcement agencies, Rizvi alleged during an Eid gift distribution program organized by the BNP’s Kafrul Thana unit in the city on Wednesday.