US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Donald Lu is coming to Bangladesh on a two-day visit. He may arrive in Dhaka on May 14.
Diplomatic sources said that Dhaka will strengthen relations with Washington and discuss the future during the tour.
However, the BNP leaders see the visit a little differently. Some party leaders believe that Donald Lu will visit Dhaka to pressure the government for snap polls.
According to the State Department, Assistant Secretary Lu will visit Dhaka after India and Sri Lanka and meet with government officials, civil society leaders, and other Bangladeshis to discuss US-Bangladesh cooperation, including addressing the climate crisis and deepening economic ties.
Earlier, Lu came to Dhaka twice—in January and July. He also appeared on a local TV show in May, where he spoke about the new US visa policy for Bangladesh.
BNP leaders say that some of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's statements have raised new questions recently. Until Friday night, there was no information about any meeting of the BNP leaders with Donald Lu, according to several senior leaders.
"There has been no discussion in the party about Donald Lu's visit. But we have recently observed the speeches of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, who said that she does not care about anyone and questioned who will be the next prime minister. We don't understand why she feels like this all of a sudden,” BNP Foreign Affairs Committee Member Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon told Bangla Tribune.
Donald Lu's visit: Scope likely to differ from previous engagements“Questions and doubts have arisen in people's minds about whether Sheikh Hasina will remain in power or not,” he added.
After Sheikh Hasina came to power, her ministers said that foreigners had congratulated the new government. “But now the prime minister is saying this, probably due to the fact that many foreign representatives have visited Bangladesh after the elections.”
He believes the government has suddenly become uneasy.
Dr Asaduzzaman also referred to the recent visit to Dhaka by the UK Minister of State for India and the Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, and India's Foreign Secretary, Vinay Mohan Kwatra. "The voter turnout in the upazila polls should have been 80% or 90% if the people were satisfied with Sheikh Hasina's work."
Meanwhile, another central leader of the BNP told this reporter that the situation could be more unfavourable if there was not a meeting between the US official and the party.
The visit of Donald Lu also included a crucial meeting with civil society representatives in Dhaka. An environmentalist who works on climate change has confirmed that he has received an invitation from the US Embassy in Dhaka to a meeting with Donald Lu. Shushashoner Jonno Nagorik Secretary Badiul Alam Majumder said he had not yet gotten an invitation.
