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The BNP public rally demanding the unconditional release of its ailing Chairperson Khaleda Zia has begun in front of the party's Nayapaltan central office with the participation of thousands of leaders and activists of the party and its associate bodies.
The rally formally began around 2:42 pm on Saturday with a recitation of the holy Quran, reports UNB.
BNP leaders and activists have started gathering before the party's Nayapaltan central office with processions carrying banners, festoons, placards, and portraits of the party's top leaders from different parts of Dhaka since morning, braving bad weather to join the rally.
Among the associate bodies, former Jubo Dal General Secretary Abdul Monayem Munna staged a showdown by joining the rally with a big procession.
BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir will address the programme as the chief guest.
Additional police have been deployed in Nayapaltan and its surrounding areas to maintain law and order.
Earlier on Wednesday, BNP Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam announced a three-day countrywide programme demanding the unconditional release of Khaleda Zia, who is currently undergoing treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital.
As part of the programme, the party is holding the rally in front of its Nayapaltan central office today.
Besides, the BNP leader said their party will hold rallies in all metropolitan cities on July 1 and in all district headquarters on July 3.
Khaleda Zia was rushed to Evercare Hospital in an ambulance at around 3:30 am on June 22 after suddenly falling ill at her Gulshan residence.
A team of specialist doctors, led by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, successfully implanted a pacemaker in her chest the following day. She is now receiving treatment in a cabin with CCU facilities at the hospital.
On June 11, 2022, Khaleda Zia was diagnosed with three blockages in her heart, one of which was 95% blocked, and was treated with stent placement at that time.
Khaleda, a former prime minister, aged 79, has long battled various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.
Since her conditional release from jail in 2020, the BNP chief has been receiving treatment frequently at the hospital under a medical board headed by cardiologist Prof Shahabuddin Talukder.
Khaleda was sent to Old Dhaka Jail after a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty in another corruption case the same year.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with the condition that she stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country. That has since been extended multiple times to keep her out of jail.
Khaleda's doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.
On October 26 last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia's stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.