Dhaka, Dec 03: Security was tightened around Bangladesh’s former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday as a specialist medical team from China joined efforts to treat the ailing politician, who remains in a highly critical condition at a private hospital in Dhaka.

Police erected a barricade at the main gate of Evercare Hospital around 2 am, with hospital sources saying more than two dozen personnel have been deployed to regulate patients’ movement and reinforce Zia’s security, The Daily Star newspaper reported.

The 80-year-old Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson was admitted to the hospital on November 23 after being diagnosed with infections affecting her heart and lungs. Four days later, the three-time prime minister was shifted to the coronary care unit after several of her health complications worsened.

Her condition deteriorated further, and she was placed on ventilation on Sunday night, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan said on Monday.

A five-member specialist team from China arrived in Dhaka on Monday and was seen entering the hospital late in the night, according to the Dhaka Tribune newspaper.

The delegation earlier held a meeting with the medical board overseeing Zia’s treatment, confirmed the board’s head and cardiologist, Dr Shahabuddin Talukder.

Talukder said Zia’s condition remained unchanged and that she was not fit to travel abroad for advanced treatment.

He added that further expert opinion was urgently needed, with another team of Chinese specialists expected to arrive later on Tuesday.

The tightened security followed the interim government’s decision on Monday to declare Zia a “very, very important person”, enabling the deployment of the Special Security Force (SSF) for her protection.

Four SSF personnel visited the hospital around midnight and inspected various sections of the building for nearly three hours.

Zia is currently staying in a cabin on the fourth floor, where surrounding cabins have been vacated as part of heightened security protocols.

The three-time prime minister was admitted to the private hospital on November 23 after being diagnosed with infections affecting her heart and lungs. She was moved to the coronary care unit four days later as her complications worsened.

Her condition deteriorated further, and she was placed on ventilation on Sunday night, BNP Vice-Chairman Advocate Ahmed Aazam Khan said on Monday.

“She is in a very critical condition. There is nothing more to do except seek prayers from the whole nation,” he told reporters.

BNP Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed told reporters late Monday that Zia’s son and the party’s acting chairman, Tarique Rahman, who has been living in self-exile in London for over a decade, “will return to Bangladesh soon”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed deep concern over Zia’s health and offered all possible support.

Across Bangladesh, prayers are being held for Zia’s recovery.

Local BNP units and affiliated organisations arranged special prayers in mosques, temples and community centres in Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram, Barishal, Sylhet, Mymensingh and other districts. Many supporters also took to social media to post prayers and messages wishing her a swift recovery.

Islamabad, Dec 02: With Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan remaining unreachable to party leaders and even his family members, the party has announced protests outside the Islamabad High Court and Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on Tuesday.

The demonstrations come amid the government’s decision to impose a ban on public gatherings and restrict visitation rights, escalating concerns about Khan’s condition.

Growing concern over Khan’s health and circulating rumours about his death prompted authorities to enforce Section 144 in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The order, signed by Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema, places Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Act, 2024, in effect for three days, from December 1 to 3, according to local media reports.

The directive, dated December 1, notes an “imminent threat within the limits of District Rawalpindi” and says the restrictions aim to maintain “public safety, security, peace, and tranquillity.”

PTI leader Asad Qaiser told a leading Pakistani daily, Dawn, that opposition lawmakers from both houses of parliament would gather outside the IHC before marching to Adiala jail.

“It has been decided to hold protests because IHC has failed to implement its order and the Adiala jail administration is not willing to implement the court orders,” he said.

The conflict intensified last week when the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister staged a sit-in outside Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with Khan for the eighth time.

Khan’s family members have also been barred from visiting him for several weeks.

Last week, the authorities at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail said that the PTI founder has not been transferred from prison and remains “in good health.”

In a statement on Wednesday, officials from the Rawalpindi prison said, “There is no truth to reports about his transfer from Adiala jail. He is fully healthy and receiving complete medical attention,” another leading Pakistani daily, The News International, reported.

The officials called the rumours about his health “baseless” and insisted that Imran Khan’s well-being was being ensured.

Khan, who has remained in prison since August 2023, faces multiple cases, including corruption and terrorism, since his ouster from power through a no-trust motion in 2022.

The statement of jail authorities comes as PTI has been demanding clarification from the government about rumours regarding Imran Khan, urging authorities to arrange a meeting between the PTI founder and his family. The party’s demand comes as Imran Khan’s sisters have not been allowed to meet him in recent weeks, leading them to raise questions about his whereabouts.

Washington, Dec 02: President Donald Trump convened a high-level meeting at the White House to review the next steps on Venezuela, amid heightened scrutiny over the recent US military action against the suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean, CNN reported, citing sources.

According to CNN, key members of Trump’s national security team — including War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, and Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — are expected to have attended the Oval Office meeting on Monday evening (local time).

The deliberations came as the US has stepped up pressure on Venezuela through strikes on drug boats and a significant military build-up in the Caribbean under “Operation Southern Spear.” The Pentagon has deployed more than a dozen warships and around 15,000 troops to the region.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was regularly meeting his security team on global matters, adding that it was part of his responsibility to “ensure that peace is ongoing throughout the world.”

The meeting follows heightened scrutiny over US military actions after strikes on alleged drug vessels reportedly killed over 80 people. The US is not formally at war with Venezuela, and lawmakers from both parties have demanded clarity on allegations that a second strike was ordered to kill survivors after the initial attack. CNN reported.

“If the facts are, as have been alleged, that there was a second strike specifically to kill the survivors in the water, that’s a stone-cold war crime. It’s also murder,” independent Senator Angus King of Maine told CNN.

On Monday, Leavitt identified Adm. Frank M. “Mitch” Bradley, head of US Special Operations Command, as the official who ordered the follow-up strike, asserting that he acted “well within his authority.” She said Hegseth had authorised Bradley on September 2 to carry out the kinetic action to eliminate the threat posed to the United States.

Pressed on the legal justification, Leavitt said the strike was undertaken in self-defence, was conducted in international waters, and complied with the law of armed conflict.

Trump, however, told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday that he personally “wouldn’t have wanted” a second strike and questioned whether such an order had been issued. “No. 1, I don’t know that that happened, and Pete said he did not want them — he didn’t even know what people were talking about,” he said.

Leavitt said Hegseth had spoken to concerned lawmakers and noted that Congress had received 13 bipartisan briefings on the Venezuelan operations, along with access to classified legal opinions and other documents.

The US military had carried out a follow-up strike on a suspected drug vessel operating in the Caribbean on September 2 after an initial attack did not kill everyone on board, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

That September strike was the first in what became a regular series of attacks on alleged drug boats.