The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Former BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan was yesterday freed from Dhaka Central Jail on bail in the GATCO graft case.

Large number of political followers, activists and supporters received the former BNP leader as he walked to freedom at about 5:35 PM from the jail.

A High Court bench on Monday granted the interim bail to Mannan Bhuiyan for two months. Shortly after his release from jail at about 5:30 PM, the former minister asked the government to release the former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and demanded better medical treatment for her son Tarique Rahman.

Briefing journalists at his Gulshan residence he also asked the government to send political leaders, including Tariqul Islam, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Mirza Abbas, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim and Mohammad Nasim abroad for better treatment.

Emphasising the need for maintaining the unity in the party, Mannan Bhuiyan said there was no alternative to unity in the party.

"If there is no unity in the BNP it will be difficult to win the next polls," he said.

Mannan Bhuiyan expressed his gratitude to the people for praying for him during his days behind bars. Replying to a question, he said the condition of jail buildings is very poor,and general inmates face enormous sufferings because of overcrowding and lack of facilities.

The High Court bench also granted bail to BNP standing committee member M Shamsul Islam on the same day, but he was not freed yesterday from jail since two more cases were still pending against him.

Earlier two other senior ministers of Khaleda Zia's past government have already been set free on bail in this same case. They are Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Maulana Motiur Rahman Nizami and BNP leader MK Anwar. Arafat Rahman Koko, the younger son of Begum Zia, was also set free on parole for overseas treatment.

The Anticorruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against former Begum Khaleda Zia, her younger son Arafat Rahman Koko and 11 others on September 2 last year, on charges of cargo-handling deal with a company through misuse of power.

Mannan Bhuiyan was sent to jail after his surrender to Dhaka CMM court on May 18.