Khaleda asks BNP leaders to have courage, says ‘she is always with them’

As the prospect of conviction in a graft case against her looms, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has urged the leaders and activists of the party to have the courage and tackle all the challenges together.

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 3 Feb 2018, 02:44 PM
Updated : 3 Feb 2018, 04:11 PM

“The only thing I would like to tell you is that I am always with you, no matter where I am located; I am with you,” she told the opening session of the National Executive Committee’s meeting in Dhaka’s Le Meridien hotel on Saturday.

Khaleda faces maximum life term imprisonment if convicted of embezzling Tk 21 million foreign funds meant for Zia Orphanage Trust when she was the prime minister between 2001 and 2006.

She will also lose the eligibility to compete in the next general elections by the end of this year. The party is already out of parliament after boycotting the 2014 elections. 

With these in the backdrop, Khaleda told over 450 grassroots leaders: “We will tackle the perils together, and we will also work together for the country when the time is favourable to us.”

“But, we must be courageous to face the evil; we have to put up resistance against it,” she added.

Members of the policymaking body National Standing Committee and Chairperson’s Advisory Council were also present.

When Khaleda was delivering the speech over the possible ‘perils’ of the party, the BNP leaders raised a slogan – “Amar Netri, Amar Maa; Jail-e Jete Debona, Bondhi Hote Debo Nan (Our leader is like our mother; We will not let her go to jail or confinement).”  

Khaleda had been under house arrest once in the 80s during military dictator HM Ershad’s regime.

She was kept in a special jail set up in a building in parliament area during the military-controlled caretaker government of 2007-08.

If found guilty, she will be the second head of government to be convicted of graft after Ershad.

The BNP, however, claims the trial of Khaleda is part of a government conspiracy to keep her and the party out of the next elections, an allegation the ruling Awami League denies, saying the courts are acting independently now. 

Khaleda said, “No one will be able to force me to do something with threats or lure me into something. They couldn't do it earlier, and cannot do it now. I am and will always be with the leaders and activists, the people of the country.”     

“Please remain united. You will face many conspiracies, terror and harassment. But let’s not be afraid,” she added.

About her trial, Khaleda said the courts could not hold fair trials because they are ‘constrained by the government’.

The ‘constraints’ the government has put on lower courts are also enforced at the Supreme Court, the BNP chief alleged in her inaugural speech.

“No matter what they believe, regardless of whether it is wrong, the courts cannot render a fair verdict that goes against the government,” she said.

Khaleda discussed the seven-year prison sentence given to her son and the party’s Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman by the High Court in a money laundering case after a trial court acquitted him.

“You see what happens even when a judge gives a fair verdict … they have to leave the country.”

The government also ‘forced’ the resignation of former Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha after he ‘told the truth’, the BNP chief said.

The BNP chief reiterated the party’s demand for the dissolution of the current government and formation of a neutral one before the next general elections.

She told BNP leaders to organise peaceful programmes to ‘restore democracy’ at the meeting.

“Shun hostility and hooliganism and create a peaceful environment,” she said, addressing the current Awami League government.

“We will not retaliate,” she said.

Khaleda also hinted at organising programmes but did not specify.  

“Our protests will be peaceful, lawful and democratic. And I will invite the people to take part in these peaceful and democratic programmes,” she said at the opening session of the meeting.

Later, the BNP chief held a closed-door meeting with the Executive Committee and other leaders of the party.