Khaleda’s younger brother Shamim Eskandar submitted the application recently, a BNP leader close to the BNP chief’s family members told UNB wishing anonymity.

In the application, he said the BNP chief’s family members urged the government to take steps to free her paving the way for ensuring her advanced treatment abroad.

The BNP leader also said five family members met Khaleda on Saturday to give her consent to seek parole for her release, but she is still unwilling to do so.

Asked about the application, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the family members can do it, but he has no idea about it.

“I also don’t know what was written in the application,” he told reporters after placing wreaths at their party founder Ziaur Rahman’s grave together with the members of newly-formed convening committee of Gazipur district unit.

Replying to another question whether they will file any application seeking Khaleda’s release on parole if the government gives assurance of considering it, the BNP leader said it is completely matter of Khaleda and her family. “We don’t have anything to say about it from our party.”

Voicing anger over granting bail to GK Shamim by the High Court in an arms case, Fakhrul said Bangladesh has now turned into a ‘failed sate’ as none of its organ has accountability. “That’s why a notorious accused arrested with huge illegal money was given bail unlawfully.”

He alleged that the government has failed to run the country and make the democratic institutions functional.

“The incident has exposed that Khaleda Zia has been kept in jail just out of political vengeance of the government. Our leader, who genuinely deserves to get bail, was denied it, but a mischief was granted bail as there’s no rule of law in the country,” the BNP leader alleged.

Khaleda has been in jail since she was convicted in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. She was found guilty in another corruption case later the same year, though her party claims both cases are politically motivated.

The BNP chief has been receiving treatment at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University since April 1 last year.