The top brass of Jatiya Oikya Front has held a closed-door meeting with envoys of the US, UK and Australia as well as the UN representative on Monday (Feb 25), which the opposition coalition, however, described as “routine work”.
“We often sit with the diplomats and today’s meeting was a part of it. It’s a routine work,” said Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, the secretary general of BNP, the largest member of the alliance.
US Ambassador Earl Robert Miller, British High Commissioner Alison Blake, Australian High Commissioner Julia Niblett and UN Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo attended the meeting.
The one-and-a-half hour meeting, which began around 11am, was held at BNP’s National Standing Committee member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan’s Gulshan residence.
Sources said that the diplomats have been briefed over ‘Bangladesh’s latest political and human rights situation’.
Oikya Front Convener and Gano Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain, Mirza Fakhrul, and BNP Standing Committee members Dr Moyeen Khan and Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury were present at the meeting.
However, the media was not briefed from either side about the parley.
Wishing anonymity, a BNP leader who was present at the meeting said, at the beginning of the meeting, Dr Kamal first briefed the envoys about the country’s overall situation.
Later, Mirza Fakhrul talked about the country’s human rights condition, repression of opposition activists, Old Dhaka fire incident as well some other issues relating to the general election and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s imprisonment.
The Oikya Front leaders also responded to queries from the diplomats during the meeting.