Bangladesh
Khaleda Zia's Treatment Home Minister says no scope for Khaleda Zia's treatment abroad
Dhaka, December 29: The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has said that BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has no chance of medical treatment abroad. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal made the remarks in response to a question from reporters after a meeting of the National Narcotics Control Advisory Committee at the Secretariat on Tuesday (December 28).
Earlier on Monday (December 27), Law Minister Anisul Haque said the file had been sent to the Home Ministry with legal opinion on Khaleda Zia's family's application for medical treatment abroad.
When asked what he was doing after the law ministry's opinion, the home minister said, "Khaleda Zia's younger brother Shamim Iskander came and gave a letter. The law minister has given an opinion in this regard. We are studying that opinion. If we feel the need, we will take advice from other places. We have to discuss the issue based on the study."
Asked whether it had been sent to the Prime Minister, the minister said, "The Law Minister has written that there is no legal opportunity (to take Khaleda Zia abroad for treatment). You must have understood our position. We will sit down and discuss the course of action."
Quizzed whether the Khaleda's treatment would be allowed abroad on humanitarian grounds, the Home Minister said, "We have taken that measure (suspension and release) considering the humanitarian aspect. She is a convicted felon, her sentence was being carried out. We were giving her the highest medical care. Even then her younger brother pleaded with us to give her more opportunities so that his treatment could be better on humanitarian grounds. She will be able to take necessary treatment in any medical center in Bangladesh, there were such instructions."
"Now her younger brother wants to take her abroad. The opinion has come from the law ministry and there is no scope for it in the law," Asaduzzaman Khan said.
Khaleda Zia is undergoing treatment in the critical care unit of Evercare Hospital in the capital. The medical board of the hospital set up for his treatment immediately recommended advanced treatment abroad.
