Shawdesh Desk:

An additional police force has been deployed in front of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) office at Nayapaltan in the capital on Saturday as the party is set to take out a procession in the capital demanding its chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release from jail.

Beside extra police, armoured personnel carrier (APC), water cannon and police vans have been kept in front of BNP office.

Law enforcers are not permitting anyone to enter the office since morning, BNP supporters claimed.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of Paltan Police Station Abu Bakar said security measures have been taken to avert any untoward incident.

He claimed that BNP did not take any permission to bring out the procession in the capital.

Asked whether they got permission from police for their planned procession, BNP Senior Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed said, “No permission is needed for holding such a programme. In spite of that, we already informed them about the programme but they did not give any response till now.”

Earlier on February 8, Fakhrul announced that their party would stage demonstrations across the country on Saturday to push for their demand to have Khaleda freed.

As part of the programme, the party will bring out the procession from their Nayapaltan central office at 2:00 pm on Saturday and it will end at the Jatiya Press Club.

Khaleda has been in jail since she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.

The BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the BSMMU since April 1 last year.