Diplomatic Correspondent: British High Commissioner in Dhaka Sarah Cooke on Monday called on Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at BNP chairperson’s political office in the city’s Gulshan area.
BNP Standing Committee members Dr Abdul Moin Khan and Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and central leaders Shama Obayed and Tabith Awal were present at the hour-long meeting.
After the meeting, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said they discussed different bilateral issues in the meeting.
“The issue of how soon we can go to a (general) election was discussed,” he said, adding that discussion was also held on how the existing relations between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom (UK) in different areas including business and trade can be taken forward in the days coming ahead.
Noting that a lot of money was laundered abroad from Bangladesh while a large part of it was laundered to the UK and many names were revealed in this regard, Amir Khasru said the role and cooperation of the UK in bringing back this money was discussed in the meeting.
The British envoy has assured of extending all-out cooperation in this regard, he added.
The BNP standing committee member said they (UK) wanted to know about the transfer of power to an elected and accountable government in Bangladesh through a fair election.
The number of casualties in the entire movement from our side, the number of casualties in the student movement in the past days has been discussed.
Amir Khasru said, “From our side, we informed about the number of casualties in the entire movement along with the casualties in the student movement in the past days”.
Simultaneously, the issues of torturing and killing BNP leaders and activists and filing false cases against them in last 15/16 years were also discussed in the meeting, he said, adding that in this context, the issue of trial of these acts was discussed too.
“They (UK) wanted to know how we are addressing the issue as a delegation from the United Nations (UN) has come to Bangladesh. They also wanted to know about the trial procedure in the country (Bangladesh),” Amir Khasru said.
