BNP chief Khaleda to leave for UK Tuesday, plans to return after Eid

Khaleda Zia is leaving on Tuesday for the UK where she will celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with her son Tarique Rahman and his family.

She will fly out of Dhaka at night for health check-up there, BNP’s Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan told reporters on Sunday night.
 
The BNP chief will return after celebrating the Eid in London, the senior leader added.
 
He said, “She is leaving the day after tomorrow. She will get treatment for her eyes and spend some time with eldest son Tarique Rahman and other family members.”
 
Tarique, also the party’s senior vice-chairman, has been living in London with his family since 2008.
 
He is facing several criminal charges in Bangladesh and an arrest warrant is out for him.
 
“Her youngest son has died. She will meet her eldest son and his family after a long time. 
 
“That’s why we’ve requested her to return after spending the Eid with them,” Khan told a press briefing at Khaleda’s Gulshan office after her meeting with senior party leaders.
 
Arafat Rahman Coco died following a cardiac arrest in Malaysia on Jan 24 this year.
 
Coco was arrested along with his mother on Sep 3, 2007 during the emergency rule. He went to Thailand for treatment on July 19 next year after the military-run caretaker government released him on parole.
 
From there, he moved to Kuala Lumpur in 2011 and lived with his wife and two daughters.

This will be the first Eid the three-time prime minister will spend with Tarique and the other family members since her both sons left the country.
 
Several BNP leaders have said that Coco’s wife Sharmila Rahman Sithi and daughters Zahia Rahman and Zafia Rahman, who are in Malaysia now, will also leave for London in a day or two.
 
It would be Khaleda’s second visit o Britain since 2006 when she lost office. She had visited Tarique in 2011 on her way back from the US.
 
The BNP chief also met him last year when she went to Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah. Tarique had joined her from London.
                         
She was scheduled to go to Saudi Arabia this year, too, for Umrah but changed plans at the last moment citing the detention in jail of top party leaders.

Khaleda started preparation for London visit last month and applied for the UK visa. But the trip was delayed and the matter became the centre of talk in the political arena for a while.
 
Following the delay, she said she was contacting the doctors in the UK for increased pain in her legs.
 
Some BNP leaders had said that she would see an ophthalmologist there.
 
Nazrul Islam Khan on Sunday night said, “She was supposed to leave earlier for eye treatment, but the departure was delayed due to political reasons.”
 
“We hope she will return safely after receiving treatment.”
 
Though Khaleda said the purpose of her visit was health check-up, leaders of ruling Awami League claim she was going there to ‘plot more conspiracies’.
 
Khan said the BNP chief at Sunday night’s meeting urged the senior leaders to form the committees of all units at the grassroots level across Bangladesh and revamp the party from their own positions during her absence.