The National Board of Revenue has instructed banks to unfreeze the accounts of Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, a move that comes 17 years after it had ordered banks to block her accounts.

In August 2007, the NBR's Central Intelligence Cell directed banks to freeze the accounts of the BNP chairperson, who has been elected Bangladesh's prime minister twice since 1990.

The decision to freeze the accounts was based on a recommendation of a panel formed during the then Army-backed caretaker government, said a senior official of the NBR.

Since then, her accounts have remained blocked although the BNP has on several occasions demanded they be unfrozen.

The latest move came weeks after a mass uprising toppled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, a long-time rival of Khaleda, on August 5, ending the Bangladesh Awami League's 15-year rule. The NBR official added that they had received an application seeking to unfreeze the accounts from Khaleda's lawyer on Sunday.