Khaleda won't be released before JS polls: Tarikat Federation chief

Tarikat Federation, a partner of the Awami League-led 14-party ruling alliance, today categorically said that BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia would not be able to walk out of jail before the 11th parliamentary election.

"She (Khaleda) has no chance of getting released from the jail,” Syed Nazibul Bashar Maizvandary, chairman of the party, said while addressing a programme at the Institution of Engineers' Bangladesh in Dhaka.

When asked, he told The Daily Star, “Though it’s a sub-judicial matter, I understand the reality. And it’s the fact."

Bashar also said no government will be formed under the leadership of late president Ziaur Rahman's family member in the country ever.

"BNP politics has gone spoiled. Tarique Rahman will be placed in jail if he is brought back home," he added.

A Special Court-5 in Dhaka on February 8, sentenced Khaleda to rigorous imprisonment for five-year after she was found guilty in Zia Orphanage graft case.

Around a month before Khaleda’s jail sentence, Jatiya Party Presidium Member Mashiur Rahman Ranga, state minister for rural development and co-operative division, at a programme in Cox's Bazar on January 18 said that the BNP chairperson will have to go to jail in the next 15 days.

Besides, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad, at a view exchange meeting in Lalmonirhat on January 23, said that Khaleda Zia will have to go to jail within a few days. And subsequently, the BNP chief had to meet the consequence.