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BNP, family push
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will bear all the medical costs, the letter added.
Meanwhile, Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader yesterday told a press conference at AL’s Dhanomondi office that BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir called him and talked to him about whether Khaleda could be released on parole.
Asked about the comment, Fakhrul said, “He [Quader] is the one who can answer this question. Our only concern is Khaleda Zia’s deteriorating health, and she should be sent abroad for treatment.”
Khaleda’s sister Selima and several other family members visited her at the BSMMU on Tuesday.
After meeting her, Selima told reporters on BSMMU premises, “I call upon the government to… consider her physical condition, respiratory problems and age. She should either be released or given bail on humanitarian grounds.”
Selima said her sister could not eat, suffered from fever, and her diabetes had worsened beyond control.
Something bad will happen if she is not immediately provided with advanced treatment, she added.
Fakhrul also said, “We think that she should be released right now on humanitarian grounds.”
Contacted, BSMMU VC Kanak said he had received Khaleda’s brother Shameem’s letter and asked the seven-member medical board treating Khaleda to review the situation and make recommendations.
“The medical board earlier told the court that her treatment was possible here if she agreed to take treatment. Doctors are visiting her daily… We expect that we will get a report from the board next week,” he said.
BNP leader Khandakar Mahbub Hossain told reporters that they would apply for Khaleda’s bail next week.
“We hope that we will get justice and she will get bail,” the lawyer told reporters yesterday.
Many BNP leaders believe that it is not possible to get her released through legal means because the government is “influencing” the judicial process.
The leaders also think that the party does not have the strength to take to the streets and mount pressure on the government to release her.
BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told The Daily Star yesterday, “She would have been released long ago, but due to the government’s interference in the legal process, she is not getting bail. But we will gradually wage a movement to release her.”
Khaleda has been receiving treatment at the BSMMU since April 1 last year.
She was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. She was convicted in another corruption case later in 2018. The BNP maintains that both cases are politically motivated.

Austria blocking EU naval mission for Libya
Afp, Brussels
Austria is blocking attempts by other EU members to revive a Mediterranean naval operation to enforce an arms embargo on war-torn Libya, diplomats said yesterday.
Europe’s Operation Sophia was set up in 2015 to fight human trafficking but has been without ships since early last year after Italy refused to accept rescued migrants in its ports.
Brussels and some member states would like to revive it to focus on enforcing the UN arms embargo on Libya -- where several foreign powers are arming both sides in a civil war.
But some EU capitals see this as a ruse to reactivate a rescue fleet that would end up ferrying migrants to Europe’s ports.
“The Austrians continue to block the deployment of ships and they say they have Hungary’s support,” one European diplomat told AFP. “They argue a ship creates a flow of migrants.”
EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell has said the renewed mission would focus on known weapons smuggling routes, away from the areas that human traffickers use to bring migrants from Libya.
But Sebastian Kurz -- premier of land-locked Austria -- is not convinced.
Earlier this month he branded the attempt to renew Sophia a “pretext” for sending Europe’s navies to rescue migrant boats.
Italy has had a change in government since former interior minister Matteo Salvini refused to accept rescued migrants, but remains sceptical and has asked that Sophia’s name be changed.
Other European government, however, worry that by blocking Sophia, Austria is forcing Europe to stand aside while Turkey and Russia take advantage of the situation.
Russia backs the forces of eastern Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, while Turkey has sent troops to shore up the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.
According to a diplomat, “with its position, Austria is leaving the sea to others and not helping calm the crisis in Libya.”