BNP-led alliance leaders meet this evening

Top leaders of the BNP-led 20-party alliance will sit for a meeting on Sunday evening to discuss the evolving situation following the imprisonment of Khaleda Zia, and work out its next course of action, reports UNB.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir convened the meeting, said the BNP chairperson's media wing member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

He said the meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:00pm at the BNP chairperson's Gulshan office.

This will be the first meeting of the alliance after Khaleda's confinement on Thursday last.

Sayrul said the 20-party leaders will discuss the country's overall situation and organisational issues and thus devise the future course of action.

Earlier on Saturday, BNP standing committee members had a meeting with the party chairperson's advisers, vice chairmen and joint secretaries general.

BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman addressed the meeting through mobile phone and directed party leaders to remain united, carry out a peaceful movement and prepare for the next polls.

On Thursday, a special court sentenced Khaleda to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Five other accused in the case, including her son and current acting chairman Tarique Rahman, were sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment each. The court also fined the five accused Tk 21 million each.