“The government is playing a nasty game over Khaleda Zia’s life. The initiative for sending her to jail when she is undergoing medical tests to begin her treatment is not only an inhuman act, but also the government's a horrifying plot,” said BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi.
He came up with the allegation at a press conference at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.
The BNP leader said Syed Atiqul Haq, under whom Khaleda had been receiving treatment, did not issue her ‘discharge certificate’ while the medical board chairman Prof Abdul Jalil Chowdhury is now abroad.
“Under the circumstances, the law enforcers forced the medical team to issue the discharge certificate. The government’s plot for putting Begum Zia’s life at stake or crippling her forever without giving her treatment is the manifestation of the government’s disgusting mentality,” Rizvi alleged.
He also said the government does not want Khaleda to be cured as it is trying to remove her from politics by risking her life. “It’s also the expression of utter vindictive attitude of Sheikh Hasina.”
The BNP leader said the government has indulged in a brutal game of revenge with Khaleda Zia to force the opposition to join the staged-managed election.
“The government has snatched her rights to get treatment. We strongly protest and condemn the sending of our leader to jail from the hospital without completing her treatment,” he added.
The BNP leader warned that people will resist any plot to endanger Khaleda’s life.
Khaleda Zia was taken to a makeshift court at the old Central Jail from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Thursday and produced her before it for hearing on Niko graft case.
A black SUV carrying Khaleda reached the old central jail in the capital's Nazimuddin Road around 11:40 am and she will be kept there, according to jail sources.
Khaleda Zia was in the erstwhile Dhaka Central Jail at Nazimuddin Road since she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8.
On October 6, she was admitted to the BSMMU after prison authorities shifted her there from old Dhaka Central jail for better treatment in response to a court order.