National Citizen Party (NCP) Chief Coordinator Nasiruddin Patwari clarified that the meeting between Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman and NCP leaders Hasnat Abdullah and Sarjis Alam was not held on behalf of the party.
"NCP only learned about the meeting between the army and Hasnat and Sarjis after it happened," he said while speaking at a press conference at the NCP office in Dhaka’s Banglamotor on Sunday.
The clarification follows a Facebook post earlier on Sunday by Sarjis, NCP's chief organizer (North), in which he expressed some disagreements with comments made by Hasnat, the NCP chief organizer (South), about their March 11 meeting with General Waker-uz-Zaman.
In his post last Friday, Hasnat claimed that during the meeting at the Dhaka Cantonment, he and two other NCP leaders were presented with a plan to rehabilitate the ousted Awami League.
He alleged that they were offered seat sharing in exchange for accepting a proposal to bring back a "refined Awami League," which he claimed was “entirely India’s plan.”
Sarjis, however, disputed this interpretation, saying that the "Refined Awami League" was merely an opinion, not a proposal from the army chief.
"The way Hasnat observed and received the army chief’s statement that day and wrote about it on Facebook differs somewhat from my perspective," Sarjis said.
He added: "The way Hasnat's Facebook post portrayed the tone, I personally feel that the conversation was not that extreme."
Nasiruddin responded to the controversy, saying: "Such remarks made without the consent of the other party are unwelcome. That meeting did not take place on behalf of the National Citizen Party."
He further confirmed that while the party was informed about the meeting afterward, no official discussion had taken place at the party level yet. "An official statement will be issued by the party after our discussion on Sunday night," he added.
Nasiruddin urged the public to show forgiveness for the mistakes made by the party’s leaders and assured saying: "No division or discord within the NCP has developed over this incident."
He also emphasized that the leaders' involvement in politics is separate from their previous activism. "The students who led the mass uprising are now transitioning from activism to politics. Therefore, we urge the nation to view the mistakes during this period with tolerance and understanding," he said.
On the issue of the NCP's reputation, Nasiruddin added: "People have high expectations of the NCP, and we will continue to work to meet those expectations."
This comes after a report by Netra News in which the Bangladesh Army denied Hasnat's allegations. The army clarified that while General Waker did meet Hasnat and Sarjis on March 11, they dismissed Hasnat’s claims as "hilarious and an immature array of stories."
The army further described Hasnat's post as "nothing but a complete political stunt."