'Khaleda can apply for parole only after acknowledging crimes'
Information Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud on Saturday today said BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia could apply for parole only after accepting her crimes.
“The government only can consider her parole, if she (Khaleda Zia) applies for this accepting her crimes,” he told reporters after attending a sports competition on Government Physical Education College ground at Mohammadpur in the capital.
Agrani Bank Limited organized the annual sports competition for its employees.
Hasan said “The federal government doesn't have any authority to free Khaleda Zia. . . if it (government) is to exercise this authority, then the honorable prime minister will need to discharge duties as the chief justice that your constitution does not allow.”
He reiterated that legal means were only option to release Khaleda Zia from jail. “There is no way of freeing BNP chief Begum Khaleda Zia through movement or street campaigns, and the legal way could be the only way to release her from jail,” said Hasan, also Awami League (AL) joint general secretary.
The minister said the BNP chief is in prison being convicted in a graft case and only the court can release her.
Replying to a query in regards to a telephone call between BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and AL general secretary Obaidul Quader on releasing Begum Zia, the minister said they (BNP) don’t know very well what they want. “After they say that they can go for movement release a her. . . Alternatively, they phoned our general secretary to free her,” he added.
About the treating BNP chairperson, Hasan said she (Khaleda Zia) is regularly having health checkups and being treated by specialized doctors at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital.
“The federal government is always sincere in providing the very best healthcare services to Begum Khaleda Zia. She has been kept in the BSMMU Hospital with her personal domestic-help rather than prison,” he said.
The minister continued saying that, “You all know that when our party’s general secretary was ill and were in critical condition, he was also admitted to BSMMU hospital. And the foreign doctors appreciated the treating the hospital that which was directed at our general secretary.”
So, he said, there is no scope of misleading the countrymen by spreading falsehood on Begum Khaleda Zia’s treatment issue.
Hasan said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina doesn’t do politics of revenge. “You all understand that an attempt was designed to kill our honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina backed by Begum Khaleda Zia’s government and her son Tarique Rahman conducted a brutal grenade attack in 2004 to implement the then government’s killing mission,” he added.
He said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina even visited Begum Zia’s house when her (Khaleda Zia) younger son died. “But she (Khaleda Zia) didn’t open the entranceway and our prime minister waited for ten minutes there . . . we didn’t keep it at heart and our prime minister also didn’t keep it in mind,” Hasan said.
In the inaugural function, the minister said Bangladesh is moving ahead indomitably to fulfill the imagine Father of the country Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman beneath the dynamic leadership of his worthy daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He said the country has gained exceptional progress in lots of socioeconomic indexes, including human development index, and achieved GDP growth higher than other countries within the last 11 years.
The minister said Bangladesh has surpassed Pakistan in every indexes and even surpassed India in lots of social indicators. “Following the independence, the Pakistanis expressed suspicion that Bangladesh wouldn't normally survive for long but now Bangladesh has surpassed Pakistan in every indicators. It's been possible only for the outstanding leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,” he added.
He said the GDP growth rate was 8.15 percent within the last year which was the best among the all countries in the world.
The per capita income is currently around 2000 US dollar while it was only $600 in 2008, he said.
Agrani Bank Managing Director Mohammad Shams-ul Islam, among others, was present at the function.
