BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia will return to Dhaka on Monday after a four-month stay in London for medical treatment, according to Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, secretary general of the party.
“Madam is returning home on the morning of May 5,” Fakhrul told reporters on Friday.
The announcement was also confirmed by BNP Media Cell official Shairul Kabir Khan.
The 78-year-old former prime minister will be accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, Zubaida Rahman, wife of the BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman, and Syeda Shamila Rahman, wife of the late Arafat Rahman.
Khaleda Zia travelled to London on January 8 aboard a special air ambulance arranged by the amir of Qatar for advanced medical treatment.
She was admitted to a private clinic upon arrival and treated under the supervision of specialist doctors Prof Patrick Kennedy and Prof Jennifer Cross.
After 17 days at the clinic, Khaleda Zia continued her treatment at her son Tarique Rahman’s residence in London, where she also celebrated Eid with family for the first time in several years.
“She is definitely doing better than before,” Fakhrul said when asked about her current condition.
“The air ambulance provided by the amir of Qatar that took her to London is now facing some technical delays,” he told reporters. “Madam has decided that if it is not available at the last moment, she will return home on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight instead.”
He said all necessary arrangements had been made with the national carrier. “If she departs on May 4, she is expected to arrive in Dhaka at around 11am on May 5.”
Meanwhile, preparations were also complete at her residence in Gulshan, Dhaka, known as Firoza, BNP media official Shairul said. “Her home has been cleaned and readied,” he added.
Her personal secretary, ABM Abdus Sattar, confirmed that all formalities for her return had been completed.
“The foreign ministry, law enforcement agencies and other relevant authorities have been notified,” he said.
Last week, Fakhrul sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, informing him of Khaleda Zia’s planned return.
Government sources said preparations were underway via the Bangladesh high commissions in London and Doha to facilitate the process.
The BNP chief was jailed in 2018 under the then Sheikh Hasina administration in a case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission.
She was released in 2020 on humanitarian grounds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following the fall of the Hasina regime in a student-led mass uprising in August last year, President Mohammad Shahabuddin ordered her full release.
The verdicts in the two graft cases in which she had been imprisoned were later overturned.
