BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is set to return to Dhaka on Monday after a four-month stay in London.
According to party sources, she will first arrive at Sylhet Osmani International Airport at 9 a.m. on a regular Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight. After about an hour’s stopover, she will continue her journey to Dhaka on the same flight.
Sylhet district BNP president Abdul Qayyum Chowdhury told reporters that all preparations have been made to welcome the party leader, with coordination also in place to involve the general public.
Accompanying Khaleda Zia on this return trip are her two daughters-in-law, Zubaida Rahman and Sharmila Rahman.
Although no formal programme is scheduled in Sylhet, central and local BNP leaders will be present at the airport. Among them will be the chairperson’s advisers, central organizational and assistant organisational secretaries, and top leaders from Sylhet district and city units, who will greet her and relay her message to the media.
Rezaul Hasan Koyes Lodi, acting president of Sylhet city BNP, said, “After such a long time, the fact that our leader will set foot on Sylhet soil again has deeply inspired our activists. Everyone has been instructed to be at the airport by early morning.”
Though primarily a travel itinerary, BNP sees this return as a politically symbolic moment.
In 2018, Khaleda Zia was jailed in an old corruption case and detained in Dhaka Central Jail. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the previous government released her on special consideration.
Following the downfall of the Awami League government in the public uprising of August 5 last year, President Md. Sahabuddin issued an order granting her release. Subsequently, the courts annulled the verdicts of the two corruption cases for which she was imprisoned.
On January 8 this year, Khaleda Zia was taken to London for advanced medical treatment. After 17 days at the London Clinic, she moved to the residence of her son Tarique Rahman on January 25. She celebrated Eid there with family after more than six years.
The three-time former prime minister had previously spent four Eids in prison and at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Hospital.
Currently, Khaleda Zia remains under medical care at her son’s residence. She is undergoing a comprehensive health evaluation and has been suffering for years from liver cirrhosis, kidney and heart conditions, diabetes, and arthritis.