No extra activities by law-enforcers around Khaleda office

Amid murmurs of Khaleda Zia’s arrest after a court issued warrants in two corruption cases, the law-enforcement agencies have not taken any visible additional measures around her office in Dhaka’s Gulshan.

The BNP chairperson has been living at her political office for nearly two months now.

bdnews24.com’s Chief Political Correspondent Sumon Mahmud on Wednesday night reported from there that only a handful of police personnel were posted at the main gates of the office.

After removal of the barricades around the office, Special Branch (SB) members have been regulating the entry there since Feb 11. They were still at their posts with table and chairs.

Police, however, were controlling the movement on Road-86 at Gulshan-2, where the office is situated, by using barricades on both ends of the street.

A microbus carrying a group of Detective Branch (DB) officers was also seen parked near the office, Mahmud said.

He said after the arrest warrants were issued earlier in the day, her sister Selima Islam and brother Shamim Eskander's wife Kaniz Fatema had visited her in the afternoon and evening, respectively.

On-duty police officers there said they were yet to receive any directives regarding the court orders.

Dhaka's Third Metropolitan Special Judges Court rejected bail pleas of the BNP chief on Wednesday morning.

It issued arrest warrants for the former prime minister in Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases as she failed to appear at the hearing.

The BNP chief has been staying at the office since Jan 3 when police stopped her from leaving it amidst tension over programmes on Jan 5, the first anniversary of the last general election.

Even though the police posse was withdrawn several days later, she has not returned to her home.

Khaleda’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan, who is also staying in the office with around 50 other officials and leaders, said she was informed about the arrest warrants.