Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will discuss the volatile political situation in Bangladesh with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
“The two political leaders will meet and discuss political issues, including the current situation in the country,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.
The foreign minister is scheduled to leave Dhaka for Washington, DC today, his first official visit there since taking office, at the invitation of the US secretary of state to attend the two-day “White House Countering Violent Extremism Summit.”
Mahmood will meet his US counterpart at the bilateral meeting on Thursday.
“We were informed by the US side that it would be a bilateral meeting,” said the foreign secretary, who will accompany the foreign minister during the visit.
The minister, for the past one month, has briefed envoys of different countries about the country’s current volatile political situation, in which over 100 people have been killed so far – victims of petrol bomb attacks, shootings, and extrajudicial killings.
The secretary said the government had no plan to seek US support to resolve the political differences in the country.
“It is our problem and we have to solve it by ourselves. It will not help us if we expect external help,” he said.
“Friends will be there, but we have to remember that it is our country,” he added.
Asked about the possible visit of UN Assistant Secretary-General Oscar Fernandez Taranco to Bangladesh, the secretary said: “Let us see. We have not discussed it."
“Things will be clearer after our visit to Washington,” added the secretary, who went to the US last week, and is now in Canada to hold the first ever foreign office consultation with his counterparts there.
Meanwhile, a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the “Countering Violent Extremism Summit” would host UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, ministers and high officials from more than 50 countries, and private sector and civil society representatives.
The summit’s main objective is to share ideas and experiences among cross sections of actors around the globe towards developing a shared understanding on countering violent extremism.
Repatriation of Noor Chowdhury
The foreign secretary said he would discuss the repatriation of Noor Chowdhury, the self-confessed and convicted killer of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, to Bangladesh.
“It is on the agenda, along with other issues,” he said.
Bangladesh earlier asked the Canadian government to send Noor Chowdhury back, but was turned down by Ottawa due to legal complications.
According to the Canadian legal system, Ottawa, where the death penalty is banned, cannot deport any foreign citizen who may face the death penalty in his or her home country.
