Zia to leave for Saudi Arabia soon

DHAKA: Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is to leave for Saudi Arabia soon while her arch-rival ex-premier Sheikh Hasina was unlikely to return home in the next one week despite the withdrawal of Government bans on them.

"I will visit Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah Haj soon after getting the visa," the 'Prothom Alo' newspaper on Friday quoted Zia, chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as saying.

Zia said on Thursday night after coming out of her brother's Baridhara residence.

The former Prime Minister came out of her residence in Dhaka Cantonment after a long period following a press note denying any restrictions on her movement and pressure for going into 'exile' by the interim government in emergency-ruled Bangladesh.

"I will tell you everything when the time and opportunity will come," she said.

Meanwhile, other reports said Awami League president Sheikh Hasina was unlikely to return home in at least in next seven days despite the withdrawal of a 'temporary restriction' barring her homecoming with the military-backed interim government fearing she might destabilise the situation in the country with her 'provocative and inflammatory' comments.

She will be busy with some scheduled appointments in the next several days, an aide said from London, where she was virtually stranded on her home from the United States visiting her son and ailing daughter.