BNP to stage sit-in programme in Dhaka Tuesday

As part of its countrywide scheduled programme, members of BNP will stage a sit-in programme in Dhaka on Tuesday protesting the jailing of its chairperson Khaleda Zia in a graft case. The party leaders and followers will observe the programme from 11am to 12 noon in front of the National Press Club, demanding the release of Khaleda immediately, said BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi. He came up with the announcement at a press briefing at BNP's Nayapaltan central office. "We hope our leaders and activists will make the scheduled sit-in programme a success with their spontaneous participation in a peaceful manner," he said. The BNP leader said their party's district, thana, upzila and city units will also observe the programmes at their convenient time and places. "We would like to say we won't return home until our leader (Khaleda) is freed." Rizvi claimed that 18 leaders and activists of BNP and its associate bodies, including its Vice chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu, were arrested on their way back home after joining the human chain programme in front of the Jatiya Press Club Monday. He claimed that around 4,400 BNP leaders and activists have so far been arrested across the country over the last 14 days. The BNP leader demanded the government immediately release their party men and withdraw all the cases filed against them. On Saturday, Rizvi announced a three-day protest programme at a press briefing at BNP's Nayapaltan central office. As part of the programmes, the party leaders and followers will also observe a hunger strike from 9am to 5pm on Wednesday across the country. A special court in Dhaka on Thursday sentenced Khaleda Zia to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Earlier, BNP leaders and activists staged demonstrations on Friday and Statuary across the country, amid obstruction by police protesting Khaleda's conviction.