Khaleda took road trip to Sylhet to create chaos, mount pressure on court: Quader

Khaleda Zia is travelling by road, not by air, to Sylhet to mount pressure on the court ahead of the delivery of a verdict in a graft case against her by creating chaos, Obaidul Quader has said.

The Awami League general secretary made the comments on Monday in response to the BNP’s allegation that its leaders and activists are being detained and barred from greeting their chief on her way to the northeastern district.

“The BNP chairperson has taken a busy road, not airway, because she wants to create chaos. There was need for her to do that (taking the road trip) because the objective of her tour was to visit shrines,” Quader said.

"Police will definitely obstruct her if she occupies the road to show off (her support),” he added.

Quader, the road transport and bridges minister, fielded questions from reporters after a programme at the Setu Bhaban in Dhaka hours after Khaleda started for Sylhet to visit the shrines of Hazrat Shahjalal and Hazrat Shah Paran.

Police detained 10 BNP leaders and activists on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Narayanganj and chased away those who gathered on the highway also in Narsinghdi to greet their chief.

“If you occupy the highway, there will be traffic tailback stretching several kilometres and Dhaka-Sylhet is a very busy highway in all aspects – the numbers of passengers and goods carried on it,” Quader said.        

The Awami League leader said the BNP chief had ‘some other vested interests" for this tour.

“Offering prayers in the shrines is not the objective of her tour, she wants to show that she has the people with her. She wants to create political pressure on the court,” he said.

“Pushing the people towards sufferings cannot be the language of politics…We see her as a responsible leader and the people expect her to act responsibly. Showing off support by occupying road cannot be a responsible act,” he added.