Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the sickness of Khaleda Zia is not new but old one. When Khaleda Zia came to power in 1991, her kneecaps were replaced in an operation done in the USA. Next it was done in the Saudi Arabia. She used to move sitting on a wheel chair while performing Hajj and shopping there. The wheel chair was pushed by Falu, said Sheikh Hasina. We have been observing her this type of sickness for a long time, she added.
Sheikh Hasina also said that, being convicted in a corruption case by the court she (K haleda) is leading a lavish life in BSMMU prison cabin even with a maid who voluntarily imprisoned herself to serve the former prime minister.
On Wednesday (Dec.4) in her introductory speech at the meeting of the National Committee of Awami League held at Gonobhavan the Prime Minister made these remarks a day before the Supreme Court is set to review the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University report on Khaleda’s health as part of hearings of her appeal for bail.
The 75-year-old is suffering from arthritis and diabetes. She has been in the hospital for eight months after she was transferred from the abandoned jailhouse on Nazimuddin Road. She is serving 17 years in jail in graft cases related to Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust.
The Prime Minister called Khaleda “the godmother of terrorism”, alleging the BNP chief’s roles in the creation of militant leader Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai and the deadly firebombing of public transports during opposition protests in 2015.
Referring to the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and most members of the family on Aug 15, 1975, Hasina said the anti-liberation forces in Bangladesh and abroad never wanted the country to prosper economically.
They conspired whenever the country was developing, she said.
Sheikh Hasina said that the country has prospered when Awami League came to power. We have achieved GDP to 8.13 percent which Bangladesh never attained. Every body even the village women have got employment.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Abul Mal Abdul Muhit, Amir Hossain Amu, Tofael Ahmed, Begum Matia Chowfhury, Kazi Zafrulla, Lt. Col.(Rtd) Faruqe Khan, Nurul Islam Nahid, Abul Hasnat Abdullah, Obaidul Kader, Mahbub Alam Hanif, Abdur Rahman, Bahauddin Nasim, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, BM Mojammel Haque, Khaled Mahmud Chowdhury and Ajmatullah were present in the meeting.