BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has urged the government to immediately free the party's ailing chairperson and thrice-former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, without any conditions attached. Otherwise he warned of dire consequences.

"We would like to clearly say, free our leader immediately (without any conditions).' Otherwise, you have to get ready for any consequence," he told a mammoth rally in the capital, the BNP's largest public show of strength this year, that started with the party boycotting the 7 January election.

The BNP leader also said the country's people will no longer let Khaleda stay in jail. Stating that the country is not safe in the hands of the current 'looter regime', he called upon the country's people to take to the streets to remove Awami League from power.

He also said their party will intensify the movement to protect the country from Awami League's misrule and restore people's lost rights.