BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir turned 77 on Friday with birthday greetings by the family members at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj.
Fakhrul’s wife Rahat Ara Begum along with his younger daughter Mirza Safaruh and sister Najma Kalam met him at the central jail at noon and greeted him with happy birthday there, said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.
He said the family members took Mirza Fakhrul's favourite food and a cake to the jail on his birthday. They spent around 45 minutes with the BNP leader in the jail.
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Contacted, Rahat Ara said they became upset after meeting Fakhrul as his health condition is not good.
“He lost five kg of weight as he is sick. So I feel sad to see him in such poor health condition,” she said.
Fakhrul’s wife urged the country’s people to pray for her ailing husband.
Fakhul has been staying in jail since he was arrested on October 29, a day after violent clashes between the police and BNP leaders and activists centring the party’s grand rally in the capital’s Nayapaltan area.
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Fakhrul was born on January 26, 1948 in Thakurgaon. His father late Mirza Ruhul Amin was a Muslim League leader and a minister of the Pakistan government.
Fakhrul, who had involvement with left politics during his student life, completed his graduation and post-graduation from Dhaka University's Economics department.
Later, he took up teaching as his profession through the BCS examination. Fakhrul quit teaching during the 80s and joined politics formally.
He was elected MP from Thakurgaon-1 with BNP's ticket in 2001 and then made a state minister. He was also elected MP from Bogura-6 seat in the 11th parliamentary election. But he did not take oath yet as the BNP rejected the election results.
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Fakhrul was made acting secretary general of BNP after the death of the party's then-secretary general. Khandaker Delwar Hossain, in 2011. He was given the full charge of the party's secretary general position five years later in 2016.