Dhaka: Accusing a section of media of publishing speculative reports on its Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Saudi Arabia tour, Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Thursday said she will go there to perform any time to be convenient for her.

‘Our party chairperson has been going to Saudi Arabia to perform either Hajj or Umrah at the invitation of the Saudi King for the past several years. It’s totally her personal and religious tour, not any political programme…some media circulated speculative information over her tour which has no basis,’ said BNP spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.

Addressing a press briefing at party’s Nayapaltan central office, he further said, ‘Some newspapers wrote Khaleda Zia has postponed her Saudi visit as Tarique Rahman was denied visa. It’s not true. Like the past years, the Saudi King has invited the BNP chief and her family members. This invitation remains very much valid. She and her family will go for performing Umrah any time to be convenient for them.’  

The BNP spokesman said their chairperson was not interested in going to Saudi Arabia during this Ramadan from the beginning of the month as her physical condition was not good. ‘For this reason, we didn’t formally and specially say anything about the matter.’  

Ripon said Khaleda is also mentally upset as two BNP leaders died in jail custodies while many senior leaders, including acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, are in jail with illness and many others are facing political cases and harassments.

Khaleda and her entourage were scheduled to leave here for Saudi Arabia in an Emirates flight on Wednesday evening, but the tour was postponed due to the BNP chief’s personal reason.

BNP sources said Khaleda took the decision to shelve the Saudi tour on Tuesday night considering her party’s current situation as the government is creating obstacle to the release of Fakhrul and some other senior leaders.