The BNP was not given permission till yesterday to hold its planned rally at Suhrawardy Udyan today to demand the release of party chairperson Khaleda Zia. A three-member BNP delegation, led by the chairperson’s adviser Abdus Salam, went to meet Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) authorities in this regard yesterday, but came back empty handed, said a BNP leader. The leader apprehended that the government would once again deny persimmon to the BNP to hold the rally. In a related development, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir talked to the home minister yesterday about the permission for the rally. But the minister did not make anything clear to him, said a party leader. The minister, however, assured Fakhrul that he would think over the matter.

That’s why BNP central leaders are still hopeful that the government will likely give them permission to hold the rally even at the last moment. On the other hand, a member of the BNP delegation to the DMP said the police authorities did not give them any hope for the permission.

“We’re still waiting to get the permission. Our leaders and activists are prepared to join the rally and make it successful,” he added.

The leader warned that in case the party was not given the required permission, it would declare a fresh programme at a press conference in protest against the government’s decision.

Talking to reporters, BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi alleged that the BNP was not being given permission to hold the rally at Suhrawardy Udyan, although the HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party and Rashed Khan Menon-led Workers Party were given permission for it.

“We’re fully prepared for the rally. We may be given permission sometime tonight (Sunday) and then we’ll be able to make the Suhrawardy Udyan rally a success,” he added. Abdus Salam and Khairul Kabir Khokan were among those present at the press meet.

The BNP has been organising different mass contact programmes such as rallies, human chains, hunger strikes, collection of signatures and distribution of leaflets, since a special judge’s court convicted Khaleda in a graft case and sentenced her to five years of imprisonment on February 8.