The leadership of Jatiya Oikya Front have held a meeting with Dhaka-based diplomats on Wednesday (Sept 4), when the opposition coalition briefed on the ‘overall situation in the country’.

The nearly two-hour-long meeting was held at the residence of senior BNP leader Abdul Muyeen Khan.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Gano Forum chief Dr Kamal Hossaim, who leads the coalition, said, “We have discussed one the overall situation of the country. We have briefed them on several issues.”

US Ambassador Earl Robert Miller, British High Commissioner Robert Dickson, UN Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo was among the diplomats who took part in the meeting. However, no representatives from the India High Commission attended the meeting.

According to people familiar with the matter, the discussions included irregularities in the last national election, BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s release and the Rohingya crisis.

Secretary-General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Standing Committee members Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury and Abdul Muyeen Khan represented the BNP in the meeting while ASM Abdur Rab represented the JSD and Mahmudur Rahman Manna Nagorik Oikya.

“It was a tea party at Muyeen Khan’s residence, where we discussed social and political issues,” Rab said emerging from the meeting.

Nagorik Oikya leader Manna said that the meeting with “foreign mission had nothing to do” with their alliance.