Khaleda Zia Attends Armed Forces Day Reception in Dhaka

BNP Chairperson and former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia today attended Armed Forces Day reception at Senakunja.

BNP Chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia attended the Armed Forces Day reception at Senakunja in Dhaka Cantonment on Friday afternoon.

She arrived at Senakunja around 4:00pm, where Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman and senior Armed Forces officials received her. Khaleda Zia left her Gulshan residence, Firoza, at 3:50pm, according to BNP Standing Committee member and her personal physician, Prof AZM Zahid Hossain.

Party sources said the 81-year-old leader, who has long been suffering from multiple health complications, joined the programme after her medical board reviewed her condition and permitted her to attend.

She was accompanied in the same car by Syeda Shamila Rahman Sithi, widow of her late younger son Arafat Rahman Koko. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and Prof Zahid Hossain travelled in her motorcade.

BNP Media Cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan said Standing Committee members Mirza Abbas, Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku and Hafizuddin Ahmed were also present at the reception.

The Armed Forces Division, under the Office of the Chief Adviser, earlier sent formal invitations to the BNP chairperson, Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, the Secretary General and other senior leaders on the occasion of Armed Forces Day.

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus attended the event as the chief guest.

Armed Forces Day is being observed today with various programmes commemorating the formation of Bangladesh’s Army, Navy and Air Force during the 1971 Liberation War.

Khaleda Zia also attended the Armed Forces Day reception at Senakunja last year, marking her first appearance at the event in 12 years.