JS was not on fixture

It came as a surprise yesterday when a court deferred passing an order on whether to accept charges against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in a case on the ground that she was busy with the budget session in parliament. It is public knowledge that her party has been boycotting the session.
Proceedings in the Zia charitable trust case, in which she is an accused, began on February 14 this year. Since then, not a single hearing has been held, as Khaleda's counsel requested time extension thrice.
Khaleda's counsel prayed for time extension on March 18 because “she was busy with organisational matters.”
On April 29, she sought time extension for the second time for security reasons as her party had called a hartal on that day.
In an inquiry, The Daily Star found that Khaleda, in fact, was not busy with any activities related to the budget session in the House yesterday.
The former prime minister was actually busy with food distribution programmes at 19 spots in the capital.
The programmes were organised by the party's local units on the occasion of the 31st death anniversary of the BNP's founder, Ziaur Rahman.
According to a source at the chairperson's office, Khaleda Zia left her Gulshan residence at about noon and attended a food distribution programme at Amir Complex premises at Azampur shortly after 12:30pm.
Later, she distributed food at Uttara House Building, Molla Para of Moddho Badda, Al Amin Market premises at Rampura, Siddheswari, Holy Family Hospital and New Eskaton area.
Khaleda went to the Jatiya Press Club from New Eskaton to attend a prize-giving ceremony in an art competition organised by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal.
She entered the press club at 2:10pm and stayed there for around half-an-hour.
Khaleda later attended food distribution programmes at Karwan Bazar, FDC gate, Satrasta and Nabisco intersections, Taltola bus stand, Mirpur-11, National Bangla School, Martyred Intellectuals' Memorial premises at Mirpur, Khaleque enterprise premises at Gabtoli, and two community centres at Adabor and Banani.
She returned to her Gulshan residence at around 5:30pm, said the official at her Gulshan office.