Dhaka, August 22 (HS). Former Bangladesh Prime Minister and BNP President Khaleda Zia returned home on Wednesday after undergoing treatment in the hospital for more than a month.
Khaleda (79) was released from jail after being acquitted of all charges following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government. According to information, Zia was under house arrest for the last five years. This is the first time that Zia, the president of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), has come home freely after she was pardoned by the President earlier this month.
The report quoted BNP media cell member Shayarul Kabir Khan as saying that when she left the hospital at around 7 pm, many party workers and senior leaders accompanied her to her home. Zia was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh from March 1991 to March 1996 and from June 2001 to October 2006.
Zia, the former prime minister suffering from various ailments including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart and eye-related problems, was admitted to the hospital on July 8. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir had said on August 16 that Zia would soon be sent abroad for advanced medical treatment.