Dhaka: BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said their party will continue their peaceful movement until Khaleda Zia is released from jail.

‘You’ve expressed your anger against the jailing of our leader Khaleda Zia and showed affection for her by joining the human chain braving many obstacles,’ he said.

The BNP leader further said, ’We would like to clearly say that our peaceful movement will continue until our leader is released from jail.’

Fakhrul came up with the remarks while addressing a human chain formed by BNP leaders and activists in front of the Jatiya Press Club.

Before going to jail, he said, their chairperson asked them to exercise restraint and have patience, and carry out the movement in a peaceful manner. ‘Our current programmes are for having Khaleda Zia released and restoring democracy.’

‘We demand Khaleda Zia be released immediately. We’ll go to the next polls along with our leader (Khaleda). No polls will be held in the country without her participation,’ the BNP leader said.

Fakhrul said their party wants an election-time neutral government and an independent and impartial Election Commission to hold the 11th parliamentary elections. ‘We want to fulfill people’s hopes and aspirations by joining a peaceful and

credible election. Let’s carry out a peaceful movement to free our leader from jail.’

He urged the government to stop arresting their party leaders and activists across the country.

BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said the country’s people did not accept the ‘unfair’ jailing of Khaleda. ‘The government must release her after withdrawing all the false cases filed against her.’

Another party standing committee member Mirza Abbas said the next election surely be held with the participation of Khaleda, no matter how many plots the government may hatch against her. ‘It’ll be a nightmare if anyone thinks of holding the polls without her.’

As part of its countrywide scheduled programme, hundreds of BNP leaders and activists formed the human chain around 10:30am and peacefully continued it until 12 noon protesting the jailing of its chairperson Khaleda Zia in a graft case.

The BNP men took position from Kadam Foara to Topkhana intersection and staged their protests with a good number of female activists and professions joining it.

They chanted different slogans demanding Khaleda’s immediate release.

Huge law enforcers were deployed in and around the area to fend off any trouble.

However, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that police arrested their party’s some leaders and activists, including party vice chairman Shamsuzzaman Dudu, as they were returning home after joining the human chain programme.

BNP’s different city and district units also staged the human chain across the country demanding Khaleda’s release.

On Saturday, Rizvi announced a three-day protest programme at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office.

As part of the programmes, the party will also hold an hour-long sit-in programme on Tuesday and a hunger strike from 9:00am to 5:00pm on Wednesday across the country.

On Thursday last, a special court here convicted Khaleda and sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case.

Earlier, BNP leaders and activists staged demonstrations on Friday and Statuary protesting Khaleda’s conviction all over the country, including in the capital, amid obstruction by police.