BNP Chairperson and 20-party alliance chief Khaleda Zia has passed eight days at her Gulshan office, which remained cordoned by a good number of law enforcers yesterday too, amid an indefinite blockade under way for the fifth consecutive day.
The three-time former premier’s movement is now limited to her chamber and an adjacent room of the second floor of the building.
A group of 11 former bureaucrats went to Khaleda’s office yesterday and held talks with her for around an hour.
Earlier, pro-BNP professionals and leaders of Mohila Dal, the BNP’s women wing, met with Khaleda at the office.
The law enforcers did not bar her relatives from entering the building to provide her cooked foods.
No senior leaders of the party or the alliance went to Khaleda’s office yesterday as most of them have been on hiding, reportedly fearing arrest.
In the last one week, the law enforcers arrested a number of top leaders including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at an emergency meeting with the party’s senior leaders on Thursday reaffirmed her government’s stance to go tough against the BNP-Jamaat’s “atrocities” in the name of movement.
Meanwhile, the ruling Awami League high command yesterday directed the party leaders and lawmakers to stay alert on the streets so that the BNP-Jamaat men could not carry out any violence and sabotage.
Since Saturday night, party leaders Selima Rahman, Abdul Kayum, Shamshur Rahman Shimul Biswas, Maruf Kamal Khan, Mahbub Al-Amin Dew and Shirin Sultana among others have been accompanying Khaleda at her office.
Khaleda was confined at her office on January 3 night while going to the party’s Nayapaltan headquarters. Later she tried to go out of the office on January 5 to join the scheduled rally, but barred. After that, she did not make any attempt to leave her office but announced countrywide blockade for an indefinite period.
Terming it “Democracy Killing Day,” she announced to hold a rally on January 5 denouncing the January 5, 2014 election that her alliance had boycotted.
But as the ruling Awami League had earlier called a mass rally for the same day to celebrate one year of the election, the DMP imposed ban on all sorts of meetings and processions until further notice in the capital.
During Khaleda’s attempt on January 5, police used pepper spray to disperse her party colleagues who were chanting slogans from inside the office premises. After that Khaleda reportedly fell sick.
Khaleda’s office was padlocked the same day but opened the following day. The main gate was locked again on January 6 for some time.
At least 11 sand- and brick-laden trucks were stationed around the office on January 4 night but those were removed on Tuesday.
