Khaleda ‘strong’, takes homemade foods on Eid day: Relatives

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia passed around two hours with her relatives and took food they cooked for her on the Eid day on Saturday.

Though her party leaders were barred from meeting her, 20 relatives of the BNP chief with some cooked food, new clothes and flowers entered the house of abandoned Old Dhaka Central Jail around 2:15pm.
Khaleda's brother Shamim Iskandar, sisters-in-law Kaniz Fatema, Nasrin Iskandar, nephews Shams Iskandar, Shafin Iskandar, Ovik Iskandar, Erick Iskandar, Sajid Islam, Mehrab and Al Mamun, nieces Orin Iskandar, Ananya Iskandar, Shafia Islam, Tarique Rahman's sister-in-law Sahina Zaman Bindu, her husband Shafiuzzaman, Khaleda's personal secretary Abdus Sattar and one of her personal drivers were there in the list of her 20 relatives.
They came out of the jail around 4:40pm.
Jail sources said Khaleda used to take her lunch by 1:30pm any other day, but she waited for her relatives to bring homemade food for her today.
The BNP chief's near and dear ones greeted her with a bouquet during their meeting with her on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
Wishing anonymity, one of the relatives who met Khaleda said the family members got emotional as they met her on the Eid day in jail.
However, Khaleda was strong and she asked all to have patience and pray to Allah for her.
The BNP chief caressed the children and inquired about the well-being of all of those met her.
Jail sources said they offered Khaleda with vermicelli cooked with milk, some sweetmeats and Jarda rice in the morning, but she did not take the food.
The BNP chief took the first meal of the day with food taken by her relatives.
Huge law enforcers remained deployed in and around the jail since the morning as BNP leaders earlier announced to go to the jail.
Earlier, senior BNP leaders, including standing committee members and vice chairmen, along with several hundred leaders and activists headed for the jail gate around 12:15pm to meet Khaleda.
The police, however, obstructed them nearly half a kilometre away from the jail gate as they had no permission from the jail authorities to meet Khaleda.
Talking to reporters after being obstructed, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said they sought permission from the authorities concerned three days back. "As per the rules, prisoners can receive visitors on Eid day, but police are not allowing us to meet our beloved leader. It's very painful," he said.
Among others, BNP standing committee members Dr handaker Mosharraf Hossain, Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy and Nazrul Islam, vice chairmen Barkatullah Bulu, Abdul Awal Mintoo, AZM Zahid Hossain, Ahmed Azam Khan and the chairperson's adviser Joynal Abedin Faruk went to meet Khaleda at the jail.
After waiting for half an hour, the BNP leaders left the place failing to meet her.
On 8 February, Khaleda Zia was sent to jail after a special court sentenced her to five years' rigorous imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.
Khaleda has been staying at the jail with her domestic help Fatema Begum.
The BNP chief earlier celebrated eid twice in jail after her arrest by the army-backed caretaker government after the 1/11 political changeover in 2007.