Calling the BNP leaders to get their facts straight on parole, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud said that the government cannot force a prisoner to be released.
“Person who wants to be released on parole needs to plead for it,” he said on Thursday (Apr 11) in an apparent reference to BNP’s demand for its chief’s release.
Mahmud’s remarks echoed with his cabinet fellow Law Minister Anisul Huq and his ruling party leader Mahbubul Alam Hanif.
On Monday (Apr 8), law minister told the media that the government “cannot forcibly release someone on parole as they have to plead for it.”
A day earlier, AL Acting General Secretary Hanif said that the release of Khaleda on parole “is not a political issue rather it’s a legal matter”.
Talks over Khaleda’s parole started doing the rounds after Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Saturday (Apr 6) said that the government would consider releasing Khaleda on parole if she seeks citing specific reasons, according to news agency UNB.
Parole is the conditional release of an inmate before completion of a sentence.
Speaking at a programme in front of AL central office at the city’s Bangabnadhu Avenue, Hasan Mahmud said that BNP chief’s health have not been good from earlier.
“With such condition of health, she had run the office of prime minister for twice and led a big party like BNP,” claimed Mahmud, who is the AL publicity and publication secretary.
The information minister claimed BNP has made its party chief a ‘matter of joke’ by often briefing the media on her health issues.
“In the morning, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir briefs the media on Khaleda’s health while it Senior Joint- Secretary General Ruhul Kabior Rizvi speaks in the afternoon to draw media attention,” alleged Mahmud.
Referring to BNP’s threat to wage movement to release its jailed chief, the minister said that the party wouldn’t make any impact.
“People get entertained by BNP’s call for movement, which would bring make no result,” he said.
A three-time prime minister, Khaleda has been serving 17 years in jail in two graft cases in prison since February this year.
On Apr 1 she was moved from the Old Dhaka jailhouse to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital for treatment.
The 73-year-old politician is suffering from a combination of arthritis, diabetes and other age-related health complications.