Jamaat-e-Islami has called on the government to release BNP Chief Khaleda Zia so that she can receive medical treatment wherever she wants.
The party, an ally of the BNP-led 20-party alliance, made the demand in a statement on Saturday.
“We are concerned over the news that Khaleda Zia has fallen ill in jail,” the party’s acting chief Maulana ANM Shamsul Islam said in the statement.
“Ministers are creating confusion by making numerous statements on Khaleda Zia’s illness. This is unfair and unexpected. She returned home a few months ago after receiving treatment abroad,” he said.
The Jamaat leader alleged the government was trying to create mental pressure on the 73-year old BNP leader. “That is why she has fallen sick again.”
He said the government has violated human rights by not allowing better treatment for Khaleda Zia.
“Since she is a former prime minister, she has constitutional right to get better treatment abroad. The government is violating the constitution by not releasing her,” said the Jamaat leader.
On February 8, a special court sentenced the BNP chairperson to five years in jail in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case. Since then she has been at a special cell at the Old Central Jail.
This article was first published on banglatribune.com