Claiming jailed BNP chief Khaleda Zia is now unable to eat, the party’s Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said she is ‘very sick’

“Till now, she (Khaleda) can’t bend her legs. Her left hand doesn’t work too,” Mirza Fakhrul told the journalists after a BNP delegation met her at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Friday (Apr 14).

The BNP leader said they “don’t think her health has improved that much compared to the earlier condition.”

Fakhrul said their chairperson needs special care and ‘specialised treatment’ for a marked improvement. “We think she’s not getting such treatment now.”

He said it is imperative to ensure proper treatment to their chairperson by the doctors of specialised hospitals as per her choice.

Fakhrul together with BNP standing committee members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Nazrul Islam Khan went to meet Khaleda at room No 621 of BSMMU’s Cabin Block around 4:05am and came out of it an hour later, according to news agency UNB.

The BNP secretary general said Khaleda greeted the country’s people on the occasion of Bangla New Year and urged them to work for the ‘restoration’ of democracy.

Asked whether they consulted Khaleda about her release on parole and swearing in by BNP’s six MPs, Fakhrul replied in the negative. “We talked about her health condition and treatment.”

The BNP chairperson has been in jail since a special court convicted her in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8 last year.

Amid BNP leaders’ demand for admitting Khaleda to a specialised hospital, she was shifted to BSMMU from Old Dhaka Central Jail on Apr 1 for her better medical treatment.

It was the first meeting between Khaleda and her party leaders since she was taken to the hospital.