BNP team likely to visit EU HQ in a month

A three-member BNP delegation is likely to visit EU headquarters in Brussels within a month to talk about the country's upcoming general election, party insiders said.   

The party is also likely to go to the USA next month to follow up its recent meeting held at the US State Department.

A BNP delegation, led by a standing committee member, may visit the European Union headquarters within a month, said a senior party leader wishing anonymity.

Humayun Kabir, BNP assistant international affairs secretary, is coordinating the trip.

Recently, a three-member team of the BNP, headed by party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, held a meeting with United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenča at the UN headquarters.

The delegation also held meetings with the officials of State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, and Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs.

“It is a continuous engagement of the party. Earlier, we used to engage with diplomats working in Bangladesh. Now, we are expanding it to multilateral agencies. We have discussed the current political situation and election atmosphere,” said a senior leader, wishing not to be named.

The BNP delegation told the UN that then UN assistant secretary general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco visited Dhaka before the general election on January 5, 2014 to strike a consensus between the political parties in Bangladesh, but the initiative is still incomplete. The BNP called for completing the task.

The team also talked about BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's sentencing to jail and “repression” on the BNP leaders and activists, party insiders said.

In reply, US State Department officials said they were well aware of the situation, and also wanted an inclusive and acceptable election in Bangladesh, party sources said.

“I informed them [the UN] about the country's current political situation. They wanted to know more on this issue and we informed them,” Fakhrul told reporters after the party's standing committee meeting last night.