BNP has said it is “happy” with the outcomes of Friday’s meeting between Khaleda Zia and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj propelled by the belief that the talks will open up “new doors.”
Party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the BNP chairperson had not “complained” about anything to Shushma.
“The recent visit of the minister of external affairs of India to Bangladesh, although only 40 hours long, is certainly of great significance for the formulation of Indo-Bangla relationship.
“This has been indicated by the Indian minister and her entourage in more than one ways. That fact that she decided to meet Begum Khaleda Zia, branded by the government as a ‘nobody’ in Bangladesh’s politics, goes to show that our neighboring country knows who the real leader of the people in Bangladesh is; does not matter if she is in the government or in opposition,” Abdul Moyeen Khan, a standing committee member of BNP, told the Dhaka Tribune.
“In fact, the Indian foreign ministry statement about not interfering in the internal affairs of Bangladesh is also an important signal that indicates at a shift in the Indian government’s foreign policy towards its neighbour,” Moyeen said.
“For, in the past, right before the farcical and fraudulent election of January 5, we saw how the then congress government interfered... Going even to the extent of saying that an election participated by maximum political parties was acceptable to India; thus trying to back the Awami government in Bangladesh,” he said.
BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said: “There is no question of success or failure. It [Khaleda-Sushma meeting] was basically an initial contact. We hope that a new door has been opened and it will remain open.”
The BNP told the visiting Indian foreign minister on Friday that there was no democracy in Bangladesh and the “so called” parliament did not reflect people’s will.
“Regional development will be hampered in the absence of democracy in Bangladesh. We believe development is impossible without democracy and therefore, it must be restored,” Moyeen quoted Khaleda Zia as telling the Indian minister.
From a rally on Friday in the capital, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked the BNP chief to stop complaining to foreigners about the country. “It [boycotting the January election] was your [Khaleda] mistake... Now you are crying before foreign lords.
They will not put you in power... The Awami League does not believe in [the power of] foreign lords. Rather, we believe in the power of people and they have put the Awami League in power several times.”
Fakhrul told journalists yesterday that the BNP chief had only briefed the Indian minister about the situation in Bangladesh, especially about the turn of events after the national election that the BNP had boycotted.
Fakhrul also told journalists that Khaleda Zia’s meeting with Sushma was a courtesy call. “Various bilateral issues were discussed in the meeting.”
