Khaleda Zia considers quitting politics, seek presidential pardon

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Khaleda Zia, chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has finally decided to retire from politics and also submit mercy petition with the president soon.

According to credible sources, the former prime minister Khaleda Zia is frustrated with most of her party leaders and sees no future for Bangladesh Nationalist Party as it has already been abandoned by majority of the people in Bangladesh, while the party also does not enjoy sympathy from the international community. One of the key reasons behind BNP’s being isolated from the international community is its policy of promoting radical Islam and religious extremism. It may be mentioned here that, BNP upholds policy of supporting terrorist outfits such as Hezbollah and Hamas, while it has also secretly joined hands with Turkey and Iran, which is the key reason behind Saudi Arabia, particularly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s distrust towards the party. Saudi Arabia once considered BNP as its ally.

Khaleda Zia got released on bail-on-parole last year due to the pandemic. Since then she has been staying at her house in Dhaka, while recently she was admitted in a local clinic with multiple health complications.

As there had been rumor of Khaleda Zia being allowed to go abroad for treatment, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, who has been living in Britain since 2007 saw this as an opportunity of jointly mobilizing political activities in Britain and other countries. Tarique reportedly had asked some of his confidantes in Britain and United States to take preparations for press conference of his mother, where he was looking for the presence of leading media outlets in the western nations.

Tarique Rahman reported also drafted a number of propaganda materials, including dossiers and video contents centering Khaleda Zia, which would be released immediately after his mother would arrive in Britain. Tarique’s aides Towhidul Islam alias Ashiq Islam, Mukhlesur Rahman Chowdhury, Kanak Sarwar as well as BNP’s leader Mahmudur Rahman were assigned to prepared draft of the dossiers, while professional video content makers were being also hired for this purpose. BNP also was willing to launch several websites as well as IP televisions, which would be used for spreading propaganda against the Bangladesh government.

Although Tarique Rahman had briefed her mother about his propaganda preparations, the chairperson of BNP is not having confidence in her son’s activities. Particularly Khaleda Zia lacks trust in Mahmudur Rahman and Kanak Sarwar, as they already are known for their extreme intimacy with Jamaat-e-Islami.

Meanwhile, another source said, Khaleda Zia’s announcement of quitting politics may be followed by presidential pardon, and in that case, Khaleda Zia may not be required to formally submit written petition.

Commenting on Khaleda Zia’s mercy petition with the president, legal experts said, being a convicted person, she cannot run in the 2023 general election. At the same time, if she seeks pardon, it will stop her from running in the election for the next five years, meaning she only shall be eligible for running in any election after 2026.

As the rumor about Khaleda Zia’s submitting mercy petition with the president and her decision of quitting politics started circulating, majority of the leaders and activists of Bangladesh Nationalist Party have started feeling extremely frustrated as they know, once Khaleda Zia leaves politics, her son Tarique Rahman will totally destroy the party.

Political analysts in Dhaka told this correspondent, BNP already is a clinically dead party. It has no acceptability or credibility. Moreover, Khaleda Zia’s politics of destruction, anarchism and arson attacks during 2013-2014 had already branded the party as a platform of terrorists. They said, for any political party, supporting religious extremism and radical Islam may ultimately turn counterproductive. BNP already has earned the bad name of a party promoting radical Islam and religious extremism. No one in the world would anymore show sympathy to them.

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