BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has alleged that the ruling Awami League government tried to thwart her meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Dhaka.
Khaleda made the allegation in an interview with The Sunday Guardian of India published on Sunday.
Narendra Modi arrived in Dhaka on June 6 on a two-day official visit. There seemed to be some confusion whether the meeting between Modi and Khaleda would happen or not.
When asked about the confusion, BNP chief Khaleda said: “The confusion was deliberately created to send out wrong signals, and they tried their level best and virtually left no stones unturned to ensure that my meeting with Modiji didn't happen.”
“I had personally congratulated him on his electoral victory. Did you hear a single leader from our Bangladesh Nationalist Party say that I wouldn't meet Modiji?”
Regarding her denial of meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in 2013, Khaleda said: “I had to call off my meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee in 2013 because I faced a life threat. If anything happened to me (on the way to the meeting), our opponent was planning to blame Jamaat for it.”
The Indian premier met with President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Leader of the Opposition in the House Rowshan Ershad, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and business leaders.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia also claimed that the "situation in Bangladesh is worse than an emergency."
Claiming that “a reign of terror has been unleashed in Bangladesh,” she said: “We are being attacked, our leaders are getting killed, nearly 20,000 leaders are missing and anyone who speaks out against the government is marked and attacked. It is worse than an emergency here.
“And I am labelled as a Pakistani agent if I speak out.”
