Jubo Dal stages demo at Press Club demanding Khaleda’s treatment abroad 

Jubo Dal has started a protest rally demanding that its Chairperson Khaleda Zia be allowed to go abroad for treatment.

Leaders and activists of BNP's youth wing started demonstrating in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka at around 10:30am on Thursday, halting traffic movement in the process.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir is expected to address the program as the chief guest.

Juba Dal President Saiful Islam Nirab is presiding over the rally. Senior Vice President Murtazul Karim Badru and General Secretary Sultan Salauddin Tuku are also present at the event.  

Additional law enforcement officials have been deployed in the area to maintain the law and order.

Earlier BNP lawmakers threatened to step down if their party leader is not allowed to go abroad.

The parliament members, forming a human chain in the capital on Sunday, also sought the intervention of President Abdul Hamid regarding the matter.

''Don't force us [BNP MPs] to leave the parliament. Our demand is just to ensure proper treatment for Khaleda Zia," Harunur Rashid, lawmaker of Chapai Nawabganj-3 constituency, told reporters.

Besides, on Saturday, BNP men observed a seven-hour mass-hunger strike across the country, including the capital, to realise their same demand.

The BNP chief landed in jail in February 2018 in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. Later, on 30 October that year, the High Court extended her punishment to 10 years after dismissing her appeal. She is still facing at least 36 ongoing cases.

Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the government on 25 March last year granted her temporary release on conditions at the request of her family. Till now, the term of her release has been extended four times.

The 76-year-old BNP chief was readmitted to Evercare Hospital on 13 November, six days after she had returned home from the hospital.

Khaleda's physicians said she has been suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, ophthalmological and dental complications.

In April this year, she tested positive for Covid-19 and took treatment at home. Later, she was admitted to the same hospital. She tested negative for the deadly virus on 8 May.

Her family and BNP have been vocal since then to allow Khaleda to avail treatment outside of the country.

On behalf of the family, Khaleda's younger brother, Shamim Iskander, submitted an application to the home ministry on 11 November urging the government to allow her to go abroad for treatment.

But the government says she cannot leave Bangladesh as per the conditions of the temporary release.