BNP started a seven-hour mass hunger strike this morning demanding that the government allow party chief Khaleda Zia to go abroad for better medical treatment.
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir inaugurated the programme on the ground floor of the party's headquarters at Naya Paltan in Dhaka around 9:00am.
The programme will continue till 4pm in a peaceful manner, Mirza Fakhrul said while addressing the hundreds of BNP leaders and activists gathered there to take part in the programme.
Senior party leaders including BNP standing committee members are participating in the hunger strike.
Khaleda was sent to jail on February 8, 2018, in a corruption case. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, she was given a temporary release on certain conditions on March 25 last year. The term of her release has been extended four times so far.
Along with other health complications, she contracted coronavirus in April this year. She recovered while under treatment at home, but as other health complications cropped up, she was admitted to Evercare Hospital on April 27.
On October 12, she was admitted to the hospital as her temperature had started fluctuating. At that time, a lump was found on her body and she was in the hospital for around three weeks.
The BNP chief was admitted to the hospital again and moved to the CCU, nearly a week after she was discharged from the same healthcare facility.
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