Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will wage a tougher democratic movement if the government won’t release its chief Khaleda Zia immediately.

“If Khaleda Zia is not released through legal processes, then she will be freed through alternative means,” says senior party leader Nazrul Islam Khan at a discussion meeting on Monday.

The meeting, marking BNP founder Ziaur Rahman’s 37th death anniversary, was arranged by Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal at the Jatiya Press Club.

Nazrul Islam said, “We want the release of Khaleda Zia and we will do whatever necessary to make her free. If the legal procedures fail, then alternative ways will be opted to free her.”

He said, “We are doing politics and we can be competitor, but not enemy. The way government is behaving with Khaleda Zia is totally unexpected.”

Claiming Khaleda Zia the most popular leader of the country Nazrul said, the government is afraid of her and kept her inside the jail.

The present government destroys every institution including democracy, judiciary, parliament, banking and stock market of the country, Nazrul said adding, Khaleda Zia was put behind the bar as she protested about it.

She has been kept is a shabby and dusty room in the abandoned prison where there is no other inmate, he said.

Claiming Khaleda is sick for long and she might lose her eyes and legs anytime, Nazrul said, there was recommendation to transfer her to specialized hospital but it was ignored and there was no initiative taken to provide her proper treatment.