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Khaleda's release still hinges on Tarique issue

Rakib Hasnet Suman
Detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia might be released anytime by next week if the issue of her detained elder son Tarique Rahman's release is settled soon, since she does not want to submit her petition until then, highly placed sources said.
According to the sources, a process to release Arafat Rahman Koko, younger son of Khaleda, is already at the final stage following an application submitted by his wife.
Koko, detained on charges of corruption, is suffering from a plethora of health complications.
There are, however, strong reservations within and outside the military backed caretaker govern-
ment about allowing Tarique to go abroad 'for treatment', who is also detained on charges of corruption. It is widely believed that Tarique was personally involved and also
was a patron and beneficiary of many high level corruptions during the immediate past regime of BNP-led four-party alliance government.
The authorities want to arrange proper treatment forTarique inside the country, the sources claimed.
BNP leaders and lawyers of former premier Khaleda Zia hinted that she might agree to submit an application seeking her release, if the government takes steps to send Tarique abroad 'for better treatment' along with his brother Koko.
"We will take a decision after consulting with her the government's proposal that she may submit an application for release," Khandaker Delwar Hossain, secretary general of pro-Khaleda faction of BNP also one of her lawyers, said yesterday.
He, however, added that the government should follow the same process for releasing Khaleda Zia and her two sons, which they followed to release Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Ilasina, who had also been detained on charges of corruption.
Sources said BNP leadership is sharply divided over the process of release of Khaleda Zia.
A section of BNP leaders said Khaleda Zia should not bow down to the government through applying for her release as she did not go to jail "by applying to the government".
They said that it would not be honourable for her to get released the way Sheikh Hasina freed on parole. It's the responsibility of the government to release her unconditionally.
On the other hand others said there is nothing wrong to apply to the government for her release. They said that immediate release of the party chief is must to reorganise the party and remove grouping, sub-grouping and sharp split created over reform issue.
Some other BNP leaders claimed that a negotiation is going on between Khaleda and the government regarding her own and her sons' release before June 20.
Khaleda on Thursday, during her appearance before a court, asked the government to send her sons
abroad for treatment' immediately.
According to her lawyers, she is taking some time to make up her mind because she is thoroughly consideringall related matters.
She is scheduled to be in court again on Monday in connection with the Gatco graft case filed against her.
Meanwhile, the government already initiated a process for her release on parole on humanitarian grounds, considering her health condition.
Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman on Thursday said the government is looking into the legal aspects of releasing Khaleda Zia and her two sons on humanitarian grounds.
Home Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin, however, said a process is on, but Khaleda has to apply first in order to be released.
When asked about the ongoing negotiation between the government and Khaleda Zia, one of her lawyers said, "As a mother she cannot accept the offer of her own release keeping her ailing son in jail."
AL President Sheikh Hasina, prior to her departure for the US on Thursday, told her party colleagues, "She [Khaleda] will also be released after June 16," according to an AL leader who sawher off at the airport.
Hasina, also a former prime minister, was released on Wednesday from a makeshift sub-jail for eight weeks 'for better treatment abroad', following an executive order of the government.