Some BNP leaders yesterday suggested that the party should not contest the next parliamentary elections without having Chairperson Khaleda Zia freed from jail.

Speaking at a closed-door joint meeting at the chairperson's Gulshan office, they also argued for gradually intensifying the party's ongoing movement over freeing Khaleda, said meeting sources.

Chaired by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the meeting discussed the country's overall political situation and the upcoming national election. The party's standing committee members, vice-chairmen, advisers to the chairperson and secretaries were present.

Party sources said the BNP will organise some programmes ahead of May 8 when the Supreme Court will hear two two leave-to-appeal petitions filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission and the government. The petitions were filed challenging the HC order that granted bail to Khaleda in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

The programmes will be held to put pressure on the government. The fresh programmes will be announced soon.

Addressing the meeting yesterday, BNP Vice-Chairman Mohammad Shahjahan said the party should take preparations so that it can react strongly to any probable denial of bail to Khaleda on May 8.

He said any attempt by the Awami League to rig the Gazipur and Khulna city polls, slated for May 15, should be resisted. He proposed announcing the Ramadan as the month of BNP's organisational activities.

Amanullah Aman, adviser to Khaleda, said it would be a great mistake if the party thought Khaleda would be freed through a legal process.

He said it would not be possible to free Khaleda without waging a strong movement. The central BNP leaders should face voluntary imprisonment and the party should not take part in the next parliamentary polls without the chairperson, he added.

BNP Vice-Chairman Enam Ahmed Chowdhury and Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin said mass processions should be brought out in the divisional headquarters to put pressure on the government to free Khaleda.

Khaleda landed in jail on February 8 after a Dhaka court had handed her five-year jail sentence for misappropriating a donation fund of the Zia Orphanage Trust.

The Supreme Court on March 19 stayed until May 8 the High Court order that granted bail to Khaleda in the graft case.

RELATIVES MEET KHALEDA

Khaleda has expressed optimism that she will get justice from the Supreme Court on May 8, a relative of the former prime minister said quoting her.

Yesterday, six relatives met the BNP chief at the old Dhaka Central Jail on Nazimuddin Road.

Wishing to remain unnamed, the relative told The Daily Star that Khaleda expressed concern over the “current culture of repression”.

The BNP chief was not in good health, the relative said. “She has pain in her left arm and both legs. Her feet have swollen.”

Khaleda wants her daughter-in-law Dr Zubaida Rahman and personal physicians to decide on her treatment plan, said one of the relatives.

The chairperson's elder sister Selima Islam, younger brother Shamim Iskander's son Aveek and daughter-in-law Zubaida's sister Shahina Khan Zaman were among the six relatives who met her at the jail for about one and a half hours from around 4:00pm.