Dhaka: BNP on Wednesday concluded its token hunger strike in Dhaka demanding the release of its chairperson Khaleda Zia three hours ahead it scheduled following a request by law enforcers.

Before concluding the programme, party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir demanded immediate release of their chairperson from jail.

Earlier, several hundred BNP leaders and activists began the hunger strike programme at 10:00am in front of the Jatiya Press Club amid presence of huge law enforcers.

‘Our programme was scheduled to be held until 4:000pm but we are concluding it now following a request by the authorities concerned,’ Fakhrul told the gathering.

He further said, ‘From this programme, we demand that our leader (Khaleda) be released immediately.’

As part of its countrywide programme, party leaders and activists, including Fakhrul, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, Mirza Abbas Nazrul Islam Khan and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, observed the hunger strike programme for three hours in front of the Jatiya Pres Club.

Party leaders and followers chanted various slogans demanding Khaleda’s release.

Besides, pro-BNP lawyers, led by senior joint secretary of Jatiyatabadi Ainjibi Forum Sanaullah Mia, are observing a token hunger strike at Metropolitan Judge Court premises.

BNP’s different district and city units are observing similar programmes.

Earlier, BNP leaders and followers formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Monday and staged a sit-in programme in front of party’s Nayapaltan central office on Tuesday protesting the jailing of Khaleda Zia by a lower court in a graft case.

A special court convicted former prime minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and sentenced her to five years’ imprisonment in the much-talked-about Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8 last.

She was then sent to the old central jail at Nazimuddin Road in Dhaka.