Khaleda meets senior advisors

1 / 1

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Wednesday night met her senior advisors to discuss the overall situation.

The nearly two-hour meeting, which began at around 9:30pm , took place at Khaleda’s Gulshan office after the party enforced a 36-hour nationwide shutdown from Tuesday demanding the release of the party senior leaders.

After the meeting, National Standing Committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told reporters, “The meeting is adjourned. There is nothing to tell the press about.”

However, a BNP leader, seeking anonymity, told bdnews24.com: “There will be no programmes before Pahela Baishakh. It was discussed that next programmes will be decided after a meeting of the 18-Party alliance.”

Vice-Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka was specially invited to the meeting as nine of the 19-strong highest policymaking body were absent.

Five of them – Moudud Ahmed, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury and Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir – are in prison in several violence and strike-related cases.

Tariqul Islam and M Shamsul Islam were indisposed, BNP leaders said.

However, of the other two policymaking body members, BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman is abroad and Nazrul Islam Khan recently went abroad for medical treatment.

Apart from them, Standing Committee members RA Gani, Mahbubur Rahman, MK Anwar, ASM Hannan Shah, Mohammad Jamirudding Sircar, Sarowari Rahman, Rafiqul Islam Mia and Abdul Moin Khan were present at the meeting.

The BNP had enforced countrywide shutdowns on Tuesday and Wednesday demanding the release of the arrested leaders.

Five of the seven Joint Secretaries General of the party are in jail.