The newly-appointed US Ambassador to Bangladesh Marcia Stephens Bloom Bernicat, along with diplomats from different foreign missions, has met BNP chief Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan political office on Tuesday evening.
Bernicat, along with the European Union envoy in Dhaka and six to seven foreign diplomats, entered Khaleda's office around 6:30pm and left at around 8:30pm after holding the meeting.
Earlier, Robert Gibson, the British high commissioner to Bangladesh, held an hour-long one-on-one meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office on February 10.
He urged all parties to consider “confidence-building measures” that would defuse the current tension in the country and allow normal life to resume.
On February 17, European Union Parliamentary delegation held a meeting with Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan political office.
The BNP-led 20-party alliance has been enforcing a non-stop nationwide blockade since January 5 in protest against the “confinement” of party chief Khaleda Zia.
Khaleda Zia had been kept confined to her Gulshan party office since January 3 ahead of a party rally, marking “Democracy Killing Day.”
On January 12, the security was relaxed.
But Khaleda never came out; instead she said in a press conference that she was going to stay there and the blockade would continue unless the government took the first steps towards a solution.
Regarding the other development, a Dhaka court issued an arrest warrant against the BNP chief in two graft cases while another court permitted police to search BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office for explosives and a device which police claimed Khaleda uses to coordinate the countrywide sabotage.
On Tuesday, the party said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia may appear in court in graft cases if she receives from the government proper security and assurance of her return to the Gulshan office.
