Awami League Acting General Secretary Mahbub-Ul-Alam Hanif today said the issue of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s release from jail cannot be linked to the party’s elected members’ joining of the parliament.

“The elected BNP leaders are liable to the voters and it is also their moral responsibility to join the Jatiya Sangsad. It can’t be linked with the issue of Khaleda Zia’s release,” Hanif said while addressing a press conference at AL President Sheikh Hasina’s Dhanmondi political office this afternoon.

An elected member of the parliament is liable to the voters and thus he or she would go to the parliament to raise voice for development and address problems of their respective electoral areas, Hanif said.

Pointing finger at Khaleda Zia, now in jail on corruption charges, Hanif said, “The voters did not cast vote for any convicted person.”

Claiming that BNP is exaggerating on the issue of Khaleda Zia’s release and that it will be a bad example in the country’s politics, the AL leader said, “Khaleda Zia is now serving imprisonment on graft charges, not in any political case.”

“She (Khaleda) must get released as per the law. Apart from this she has no scope to go abroad. Only the Presidential mercy can help her to get release from jail in this connection,” the AL acting general secretary added.  

Hanif came up with the remarks in response to the recent remark of BNP Standing Committee Member Maudud Ahmed that the elected leaders of the party would take oath if Khaleda Zia is released from jail.