The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The possibility of release of detained BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina on parole before completion of trial of their cases is remote, it is reliably learnt.

Informed sources said that a news item published in this regard in a section of newspapers is not based on facts.

The sources said, at one point soon after the declaration of emergency there was a move to allow the two former premiers to stay abroad in order to help them avoid facing legal hurdles for their involvement in corruption, but that opportunity no longer exists now after the start of corruption cases against them.

They said comparison of the cases of Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina with that of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who was released in 1969 by the then Ayub regime to take part in a roundtable conference, is not relevant because the case against Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was a political case in the backdrop of a political movement countrywide. In the present situation both these leaders failed to maintain the political process. And the allegations against them is corruption in the backdrop of rampant corruption under their leadership .

Highly placed sources have it that their release on parole is possible only after the completion of trials against them pending before the court and that also not for political dialogue. The political dialogue with Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina cannot have any meaningful purpose as because they both have failed to give political leadership. Yet, baseless speculations are circulating for raising false hopes for reviving past politics for the benefit of corrupt ones.

Meanwhile, when contacted, Deputy Inspector General (DIG-Prisons) Maj Shamsul Haider Siddique told The New Nation that he has no such information on this.

Asked whether there is any option to release the two premiers to help the process of political dialogue, he replied in the negative saying, "No such option is there in the Jail Code."