Dhaka: The International Affairs Secretary of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Asaduzzaman Ripon, on Tuesday complained that the detained BNP leaders are not getting proper treatment. He expressed his concern over the police decision to send back the party’s ailing acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to custody.

Addressing a press conference at the party office at Nayapaltan in Dhaka, Asaduzzaman Ripon said many BNP leaders were in sound health when they were arrested by the law enforcers, but came out after they died of diseases.

He said several leaders are in critical condition as they refused proper treatment.

Claiming that most of their senior leaders are seriously ill in different jails, BNP on Tuesday called on the government to demonstrate a human behaviour by immediately realising them to receive treatment at specialised hospitals.

‘We expect a human behaviour from the government, transfer our ailing leaders to specialised hospitals for better treatment and release all the arrested leaders and activists,’ said BNP spokesperson Asaduzzaman Ripon.

The BNP leader said they are worried as the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) authorities have decided to send their ‘seriously ill’ acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir to jail instead of ensuring better treatment for him at the hospital.

He claimed Fakhrul has been suffering from various serious diseases, including (carotid arteries) blockage in the nerve of his neck, diabetes and heart complications.

Fakhrul was shifted to the BSMMU in Dhaka earlier in the day from Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur as he fell sick.

BSMMU director Abdul Mazid Bhuiyan said they formed a six-member medical board headed by Professor Rafiqul Islam.

But the medical team didn’t find any serious problem in his health.  As per the medical board’s report, the BSMMU director said, Fakhrul’s health condition is stable and he is not suffering from any problem worth of being admitted to hospital.

Ripon claimed that apart from Fakhrul, BNP standing committee members Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, vice chairmen Abdus Salam Pintu, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, chairperson’s advisers MA Mannan, Shamsuzzaman Dudu and joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi are critically ill in jails.

‘Their lives are gradually coming under threat for lack of better treatment. Under the circumstances, their families and the party have come concerned over their health condition,’ he added.

Every citizen has basic and constitutional right to receive treatment, he said deploring that the government is pushing the BNP leaders to death without providing them with better treatment in jails.