Following a debacle in the 11th National Election, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has described her party as the “opposition outside the parliament”.
Her remarks came on Sunday (Jan 13), when she was produced before the makeshift courtroom set up inside the old jailhouse at Dhaka’s Nazimuddin Road where she has been serving her term after being convicted of graft.
The former prime minister is being tried in the court of Dhaka Special Judge-9 Sheikh Hafizur Rahman in a graft case, which accuses her of abusing power to award gas exploration contracts to Canada-based Niko Resources Ltd.
Former minister and senior BNP Leader Moudud Ahmad, a suspect in the case who is representing himself, told the court in his defence during Sunday’s hearing, “This is all happening because we are now in the opposition.”
A prosecution lawyer then asked whether the BNP was the opposition now.
It’s then when Khaleda said, “The Opposition can be in parliament as well as can exist outside. Those who speak on behalf of the people for their rights are the opposition party.”
The Niko graft case accuses former prime minister Khaleda and ten others of abusing the power of their office to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko. The case was started by the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2007.