Law Minister Anisul Huq has said that there is no legal scope for allowing BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to go abroad for treatment.
He made the comment while giving his reaction after BNP lawmaker Gulam Mohammad Siraj (Bogura-6) raised after the issue in the Parliament on Thursday in point-of-order.
He said that Khaleda Zia is a convicted person. She was released suspending her sentence as per section 401 of the Criminal Code of Procedure (CrPC). There is no scope to consider any new step under the section 401 in the present circumstances.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Anisul Huq told the Parliament that the government would consider Khaleda Zia’s appeal to go abroad for medical treatment if she files a fresh application after going back to jail. He had said this while giving his reaction to the remarks of BNP MPs Harunur Rashid and Rumeen Farhana during discussion in the House.
The Law Minister on Thursday told the Parliament, “They (BNP) can rebuke me as much as they wish but it doesn’t matter to me. We have to follow the law.”
Khaleda Zia is getting proper treatment in the country, he added.
BNP leaders argued that their chief can be released for receiving treatment abroad on humanitarian ground and raised some previous instances in this regard saying that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was allowed to go abroad in 2007-2008 despite having lawsuits against her. At this point, Anisul Huq said, “But it is not true as Sheikh Hasina has never been convicted in any case.”
About BNP leaders’ statements that ASM Abdur Rab was sent to Germany from jail for treatment, the Law Minister said, “I don’t know the section which was followed to send ASM Rab abroad as it was done during the martial law period. The martial laws don’t go with the CrPC provision. So, today where there is rule of law, I can’t do whatever I wish.”
BNP lawmaker Gulam Mohammad Siraj in his speech in the Parliament called upon he Prime Minister to send BNP chief Khaleda Zia abroad, granting her bail within a day or two. “Otherwise, Awami League will have to shoulder its responsibility for ever, if anything happens,” he said.
Hinting at their resignation from the Parliament, the BNP MP said, “If the condition of Khaleda Zia worsens, it might not be possible for us to stay in Parliament due to the party’s decision.”
However, the ruling Awami League MPs protested the comment of Gulam Mohammad Siraj.
Meanwhile, BNP called a seven-hour mass-hunger strike across the country for tomorrow (Saturday) demanding the immediate release of Khaleda Zia for better treatment abroad.
The party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir announced the programme at a press conference at BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office in the capital.
According to the announcement, the programme will be observed in all metropolitan cities and district towns from 9:00am to 4:00pm.