After nearly 12 years, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia is going to attend the reception at Senakunja on Armed Forces Day on Thursday afternoon.

She is scheduled to leave for Senakunja at 3pm from her Gulshan residence on Thursday, said her private secretary ABM Abdus Sattar.

This will be Khaleda Zia's first participation in a state function since her imprisonment in February 2018. She last attended the reception in 2012.  

Earlier, on Tuesday night, the Armed Forces Division of the Chief Adviser’s Office invited Khaleda, also a three-time former Prime Minister, to attend the reception at Senakunja.

Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lieutenant General Mizanur Rahman Shamim and Principal Staff Officer (PSO) Lieutenant General ASM Kamrul Ahsan handed over the invitation letter to Khaleda.

BNP Standing Committee member and Khaleda Zia's personal physician, Prof AZM Zahid Hossain, confirmed that the two military officers, along with their wives, visited the former Prime Minister at her Gulshan residence and delivered the invitation letter.

BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan said 26 other BNP leaders, including Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman, Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior leaders, have also been invited to attend the reception.

He said army officials handed over the invitation letters to Khaleda Zia’s private secretary Abdus Sattar at her Gulshan office on Tuesday afternoon.

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus will be present as the chief guest at the reception at Senakunja.

Armed Forces Day will be celebrated on Thursday with various programmes amid festivity and enthusiasm, commemorating the establishment of the army, navy, and air force during the 1971 Liberation War.