BNP leaders on hunger strike protesting Khaleda's jailing

Published: November 01, 2018 13:23:21 | Updated: November 02, 2018 16:21:47

FE file photo used for only representational purpose

As part of its countrywide programme, the BNP is observing a six-hour mass hunger strike in the capital city on Thursday, protesting the conviction of the party chairperson Khaleda Zia in Zia Charitable Trust graft case.

The protest programme began around 10:00am at Mohanagar Natya Mancha in Dhaka and it will continue till 4:00pm.

Several hundred leaders and activists joined the programme amid tight vigilance by police, according to a UNB report.

BNP senior leaders, including its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, are scheduled to address the programme.

Besides, the leaders of other political parties, pro-BNP intellectuals, and professionals are likely to express their solidarity with the programme.

Similar programmes are being observed in other districts and metropolitan cities.

Earlier on Wednesday, the party formed human chains in the capital and elsewhere in the country while staged demonstrations on Tuesday.

BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi on Monday announced a three-day countrywide programme, including formation of human chains, protesting the conviction of Khaleda Zia in the graft case.

On Monday, a Dhaka court sentenced BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and three others to seven years' rigorous imprisonment each in the much-talked-about graft case.