The BNP has announced a mass token hunger strike program for Saturday to press home their demand to allow party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia to fly abroad for better treatment.
Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the announcement from a press conference at the BNP chairperson's political office in Gulshan on Thursday.
He asked the party activists to observe hunger strike from 9am to 4pm on Saturday across the country including the capital.
Fakhrul said that the 76-year-old former premier, now being treated at a hospital, was seriously ill. “She is fighting for her life.”
BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan and Selima Rahman, Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman, Shajahan Omar and Abdul Awal Mintoo, among others, were present at the press conference.
On September 25, the government stayed Khaleda’s sentence, for the fourth time, in two graft cases for another six months through an executive order following an appeal by her family members.
The government extended her imprisonment suspension upholding the previous conditions.
The decision was taken as per section 401 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the notification, Khaleda Zia will receive treatment staying at her own residence in Dhaka and will not be allowed to travel abroad during the jail suspension period.
Khaleda Zia has been on temporary release due to the Covid-19 pandemic, subject to certain conditions, since March 25 last year.
She has been facing post-Covid complications after she contracted the virus in April this year.
The conditions of her release are that the BNP chief would receive treatment at home and would not take part in political activities.
According to the law minister, to go abroad for advanced treatment, the only option Khaleda has is to seek presidential clemency by admitting her crimes.
The BNP, however, maintained that she had no reason to do so as she was innocent.
