Khaleda must be sent abroad for proper treatment: Fakhrul 

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said party Chairperson Khaleda Zia must be sent abroad for advanced treatment without further delay as her condition is critical.

The BNP leader came up with the statement citing recommendations of doctors while addressing a rally demanding Khaleda's treatment abroad in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday noon.

Criticizing the Awami League government, Fakhrul said, "Many are being sent abroad for treatment in air ambulances. But they [the govt] are not allowing Begum Zia, who was convicted in a false case, to go abroad. 

"This is happening because the government fears her. They are afraid that the general people will follow her like the 'Pied Piper of Hamelin' if she took it to the streets." 

Fakhrul said doctors told him that the BNP chief has two more blockages in her heart and must be sent abroad without further delay to ensure proper treatment.

 "Our demands are very clear. She [Khaleda] has to be sent abroad, the government must resign immediately and give national polls under a caretaker government conducted by a new election commission.' 

Mentioning that different political parties are coming together to create resistance against the current government, the BNP secretary general said, "You [the govt] will not be able to save yourselves from the intensity of our movement."

Expressing dissatisfaction over the recently proposed budget for FY23, Fakhrul said that it did not take any measures to control commodity prices but facilitated the opposite. 

"Allocations for the country's education and health sectors were not increased," he furthered. 

He also voiced his concerns over the budget proposal offering money launderers an opportunity to legalise unreported offshore assets without facing any questions from authorities.

Khaleda was taken to Evercare Hospital at 2:55am on Saturday after she suddenly fell ill at her Gulshan residence. 

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other party leaders rushed to the hospital at the time.

Doctors at the hospital installed a ring in the heart of the BNP chief following her acute heart attack.

The 76-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung and eye problems.

Earlier in November last year, she was admitted to the Evercare Hospital in the Bashundhara Residential Area and returned home after an 81-day stay.

Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on 8 February 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her jail sentence on 25 March 2020, with conditions that she will stay in her Gulshan house and will not leave the country.

Senior leaders and activists of the party were present during today's (12 June) protest.