Former prime minister and Bangladesh Nationalist Party – BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia left Dhaka for London on Tuesday (Jan 7) night by a special air ambulance. The air-ambulance provided by Qatar's emir carrying Begum Khaleda Zia left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:45 p.m., BNP's media cell confirmed it. Earlier, her motorcade arrived at the airport around 11 p.m. Senior BNP leaders, including Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee members, saw off Khaleda Zia at the airport. BNP Chairperson left her Gulshan residence Firoza at 8:15 p.m. for the airport to board the air ambulance, local media reported.
Khaleda Zia's adviser Dr. Enamul Haque Chowdhury said there will be a one-hour break in Qatar on her en-route to London.
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani provided the special air ambulance from royal fleet after learning about the illness of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia.
Four doctors and paramedics from Qatar and six members of Khaleda Zia's medical board from Dhaka are in the air ambulance.
Medical board members accompanying Khaleda Zia are Prof. Shahabuddin Talukder, Prof. FM Siddique, Prof. Nuruddin Ahmed, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, Prof. AZM Zahid Hossain and Dr. Mohammad Al Mamun.
Syeda Sharmila Rahman, wife of Begum Khaleda Zia's youngest son late Arafat Rahman, member of the Chairperson's Advisory Council Enamul Haque Chowdhury, member of BNP Executive Committee Tabith Awal and Khaleda Zia's Private Secretary ABM Abdus Sattar, accompanied her along with a few personal staff.
Earlier, Khaleda left her Firoza residence at 8:15 p.m. but her motorcade could not cross Gulshan-2 intersection due to the crowd of party leaders and activists until 9 p.m. Thousands of people waved goodbye to her on both sides of the street.
Meanwhile, BNP leaders and activists started gathering in front of Firoza since the afternoon. They kept chanting slogans in the names of Khaleda Zia and Tarique Rahman. At 6:15 p.m., the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir entered Khaleda Zia's residence Firoza. Fakhrul left Firoza at 6:30 p.m.
On Monday, Khaleda Zia's personal physician Prof Dr AZM Zahid Hossain at a press conference said Begum Zia will be admitted to prestigious London Clinic under the National Health Service (NHS) in the U.K. for advanced treatment. "Khaleda Zia will be taken to the hospital directly from the Heathrow International Airport," he said. "We are taking her to London Clinic, which is a multi-disciplinary advanced medical center. Doctors in that hospital will check her and then decide what will be the next course of her treatment," he said.
In London, Khaleda Zia will meet her eldest son Tarique Rahman, acting chairman of BNP, after almost seven and a half years. Tarique Rahman and his wife Dr Zubaida Rahman will receive Begum Zia at London airport. London BNP leaders and workers will also remain present at the airport.
Earlier, Khaleda Zia exchanged greetings with members of the party's standing committee at her Gulshan residence 'Firoza' in the capital on Sunday.
The 79-year-old three-time former prime minister Khaleda Zia has been suffering from various ailments for long. Earlier seven and half years back on Jul 15, 2017, Khaleda Zia visited London for follow-up treatment of her eyes and feet.
Khaleda Zia was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case during the Awami League government and went to prison on Feb 8, 2018. However, the BNP claimed that she was unfairly convicted in a politically motivated false case.
The party further claimed that Khaleda Zia incurred the wrath of the then Awami League government for continuing the 'struggle to restore democracy' after the 'voter-less' elections on Jan 5, 2014.
According to BNP, her illness worsened after she was convicted in a case in 2018 and sent to prison.
In March 2020, the BNP Chairperson was granted conditional temporary release by the then government's executive order. Since then, she was staying at Gulshan's residence Firoza. During this time, she also fell ill repeatedly.
The party and family repeatedly requested the government to allow her to undergo treatment abroad. But the government did not respond to it. So, BNP called protest programmes demanding treatment abroad for the ailing chairperson.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the students-led mass uprising on Aug 5, Khaleda Zia was released by a presidential order.
Then the court quashed the verdicts in the two corruption cases in which she was imprisoned. Since then, the party started preparing for Khaleda Zia's advanced treatment abroad. After changing the date several times due to physical fitness for flying, the BNP chief finally left Dhaka for London tonight.
