Accusing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of disseminating ‘false and defamatory’ information – former prime minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and her family members have assets in Saudi Arabia – BNP on Friday urged her to apologise to avoid legal action.
“The Prime Minister’s comments on the siphoning off of money by BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia are totally false, fabricated and baseless. The main motive behind such an imaginary story of corruption is to dent the image of her and her family members and politically malign them,” said the party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at a press conference on Friday.
Labelling her remarks as ‘baseless, illegal and punishable’ he said, “We strongly protest and condemn her comments. We also call upon her to refrain from making such indecent comments that are devoid of political etiquette and good taste.”
BNP organised the press conference at the Chairperson’s Gulshan office to give reaction a day after Prime Minister Hasina made some allegations concerning the BNP, its chief Khaleda and her family members on Thursday.
She said, “Our media didn’t run the news that Khaleda owns a large shopping mall in Saudi Arabia…it’s very unfortunate that I’ve seen no interest on the part of the local media, except for two TV channels and two newspapers, to run the news.”
"I don't understand why the [local] media is so sympathetic towards the patrons of assailants and anti-liberation forces,” the Prime Minister told journalists at the media conference held on her Cambodia tour at Ganobhaban.
According to some media reports based on the information by Global Intelligence Network’ and ‘Canadian TV channel The National, anti-corruption investigation in Saudi Arabia revealed that Khaleda and her family members have assets in that country.
The BNP strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and demanded that the US President revoke the decision and accept the justified demands of Palestinians.
