Barrister Rafique doubts Khaleda was asleep when Hasina went to visit her

Barrister Rafique Ul Huq has his doubts about the excuse that Khaleda Zia, grieving over her son's death, could not meet Sheikh Hasina because she had been put to sleep.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 25 Jan 2015, 07:24 PM
Updated : 26 Jan 2015, 04:44 AM

The senior lawyer was at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office at the time and said claims that she had been injected with sedatives did not appear genuine to him.

Speaking to bdnews24.com on Sunday evening, he said, "When the prime minister went there, she was told that an extremely afflicted Khaleda Zia would not be able to see her, that she had been put asleep with injection.

"It did not appear true to me. But anyway, she (Prime Minister Hasina) was told so."

Hasina went to visit Khaleda on Saturday evening to console her after the death of Arafat Rahman Coco but could not get in as the gate of the office was locked.

No BNP leader came to see the prime minister who waited at the gate for sometime.

The BNP chief's Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas had told journalists, after Hasina had started for Gulshan, that Khaleda was not in a position to meet the prime minister. She had fallen ill and was put on sedatives, Biswas further said.

But Barrister Huq, who represented both leaders in court during the 2007-8 emergency rule, was not convinced.

"The prime minister went to see her, a mother showed up to console another. Even if (Khaleda) was not feeling well, it was about two mothers, no son was there. A mother could gently stroke the head of the other one in bed.

"But (Hasina) was not allowed to go to her. It was a very bad thing to do."

Asked if this episode will have any impact on the possibility of a dialogue, the lawyer, who had previously urged the bitter political rivals to sit across the table, replied, "It will certainly."
"I hoped this opportunity will lead to a dialogue. But that didn't happen."
But, he was optimistic about talks taking place someday.
BNP policymaker Moudud Ahmed already said on Sunday that the prime minister
the treatment she deserved when she had gone to share Khaleda's grief.
And the BNP's founding secretary general and former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury was critical, too, of the manner in which the matter was dealt with.
He believed preventing the BNP chief from getting out by keeping her office gate locked and turning the prime minister away from the gate were equally wrong.