In a statement, the press team of Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin said that an assembly chaired by Shahabuddin “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately”.
Hours after her fierce rival Sheikh Hasina was overthrown and the military seized control, former prime minister and prominent opposition figure Khaleda Zia was ordered to be released from jail by Bangladeshi President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Monday
A meeting chaired by Shahabuddin “decided unanimously to free Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia immediately,” according to a statement released by the president’s press team.
The meeting was attended by top leaders of various opposition parties, including the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami party, as well as Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman, the heads of the navy and air force.
“The meeting has also decided to free all the people who have been arrested during the student protests,” said the statement.
Sheikh Hasina resigned, Waker-Uz-Zaman announced in a national broadcast on state television earlier on Monday, and the military would establish a caretaker government.
“The meeting decided to form an interim government immediately” , it continued.
Since early July, Sheikh Hasina had attempted to put an end to anti-government demonstrations across the nation, but she left the nation on Sunday due to violent unrest that left almost 100 people dead.
78-year-old Khaleda Zia is hospitalized and in poor health as a result of her 2018 graft conviction and 17-year prison term.
