Opinion on Khaleda's overseas treatment to be informed Sunday: Minister

Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anisul Haq has said opinion about the application for BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's overseas treatment will be informed on Sunday.

He said this to the journalists on Saturday.

In an interview with Voice of America, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had said Khaleda Zia will have to go to jail again to apply to go abroad.

Asked remark about this, Anisul Haq told the reporters, "I don't want to say anything now about the application made in this regard. It will be informed in ministry on Sunday."

Earlier on September 25, Khaleda Zia's younger brother Shamim Iskander submitted an application to the Home Ministry seeking arrangements for her treatment abroad. 

Later, the Home Ministry sent it to the Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry for its opinion.

Khaleda Zia has been suffering from arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, and eye issues for a long time. She was diagnosed with Covid-19 and spent 81 days in hospital care in 2021.

She also experienced bleeding in the digestive tract and liver cirrhosis later in November.

The BNP chief was convicted in two graft cases and taken to jail in 2018. In April 2020, in light of the Covid pandemic, the government granted a request from her family for a conditional temporary release from jail for “humanitarian reasons”.

She has since stayed at her Gulshan home under the care of her personal doctors and has had limited interaction with others.

Her family petitioned the government several times for permission to take her abroad for medical treatment. The government repeatedly denied the request, claiming it is impossible under the current law that allows her to stay out of jail.

FH/SU