British High Commissioner Sarah Cooke meets Khaleda

Staff Correspondent: British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke met BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and enquired of her health condition on Wednesday night.

The meeting was held at BNP Chairperson’s residence, Firoza, in the city’s Gulshan area at 8:30pm, said BNP Media Cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

It was Khaleda Zia’s first meeting with any foreign envoy since 2018, following her acquittal from convictions in graft cases.

Sarah Cooke met the BNP Chairperson as the ailing Khaleda is likely to go to the UK for better treatment, party sources said.

The British High Commissioner greeted the former Prime Minister Khaleda upon meeting her.

Following the hour-long meeting, BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury told reporters that there were concerns among foreign diplomats about Khaleda Zia’s health conditions and recovery.

“The first thing they (the UK) wanted to know was the physical condition of the madam (Khaleda)… If she is fine. Whether there is preparation for her to go abroad for treatment… these issues were discussed,” he said.

“The second thing they discussed with madam was where Bangladesh is headed, where we are going in the new context after this change (in the politics of Bangladesh),” he added.

Amir Khosru said they informed the BNP chairperson about their thoughts over the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the UK.

“They informed madam what Britain wants to do to solve the various problems of Bangladesh and to improve the relations between the two countries further,” he said.

Khaleda Zia stressed the need for strengthening the bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the UK further, he said.

BNP Chairperson’s personal physician Professor AZM Zahid Hossain said, “We are working on her preparation for the long journey for taking madam abroad. It will take 8 to 13 hours to take her to the UK or 18 to 21 hours of flying to take her to the USA… So, the medical board says her physical fitness is very important for her long journey.”

He said they have established contact with hospitals in the UK and USA. “Madam’s medical board has already contacted (the hospitals). As soon as possible, the matter of taking her abroad will be considered if her physical fitness is suitable for flying,” Zahid, also a BNP standing committee member, said.

Khaleda Zia’s medical board chief Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, Dr FM Siddique, and member of the Special Assistant to BNP Chairperson’s Foreign Affairs Advisory Committee Tabith Awal were present.

On July 8, Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister, was admitted to Evercare Hospital in the capital six days after she had been discharged from the same hospital with various ailments.

On August 24, she returned home after receiving treatment at the hospital for 45 days.

A group of specialist doctors, led by Prof Shahabuddin Talukder, successfully installed a pacemaker in Khaleda Zia’s chest on June 23.

Khaleda has long been battling various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, and issues related to the kidney, lung, heart, and eyes.

Khaleda’s doctors have been recommending sending her abroad since she was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in November 2021.

On October 26 last year, three US specialist doctors completed the hepatic procedure known as the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.

She was placed in Old Dhaka Central Jail on February 8, 2018, after a special court sentenced her to five years in prison in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case. On October 30, 2018, the High Court raised her punishment to 10 years. Later, she was convicted in the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case.

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail after 776 days through an executive order, suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020 with conditions that she would stay in her Gulshan house and not leave the country.

On August 6 last, Khaleda Zia was completely freed by an order of President Mohammed Shahabuddin.

The president passed the order under Article 49 of the Bangladesh Constitution, according to a gazette issued by the home ministry on August 6.

Article 49 states that “The president shall have power to grant pardons, reprieves, and respites and to remit, suspend, or commute any sentence passed by any court, tribunal, or other authority.”