Dhaka – Four civil society bodies on Sunday contradicted part of the statement made by Awami League general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam saying no representative of the AL was invited to the dialogue organised by them ‘is not true’.In a joint statement, the civil society bodies – Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK) Civic Movement for Good Governance (Sujan) and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) said their attention has been drawn to the statement made at a press briefing on Sunday by AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam saying that no representative of Bangladesh Awami League was invited to the ‘Dialogue Bangladesh in Crisis: Citizens’ Perspectives’ held on Saturday.
On behalf of the organizers, on December 24, CPD Executive Director invited HT Imam, Adviser to the Prime Minister and Co-Chairman of Election Conducting Committee of Awami League, to participate in the discussion, to which he gave his kind consent.
On December 25, HT Imam called the Executive Director, CPD to inform about his inability to join the dialogue since the election manifesto of the Awami League was scheduled to be released on the same day of the dialogue.
CPD Chairman had invited Adviser to the Prime Minister on International Affairs Dr Gowher Rizvi to the dialogue. Iqbal Sobahan Chowdhury, Press and Media Advisor to the Prime Minster, gave his consent to join the dialogue when contacted by the organisers.
Awami League leaders who were contacted through email, telephone or SMS included Suranjit Sengupta, MP, Mohammad Nasim, Major General (retd) Kazi Mohammad Shafiullah (Bir Uttam), Presidium Member of Awami League Nuh-ul-Alam Lenin, Vice Principal Md Abdus Shahid, MP, Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Faruk Khan, MP, Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, MP, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, MP, Meher Afroz, MP, Reza Ali, MP, Asaduzzaman Noor, MP, M Israfil Alam, MP, Sagufta Yasmin, MP and AKM Mayeedul Islam, MP.
Anisul Islam Mahmud, Minister for Water Resources, was scheduled to join the dialogue. However, his plane could not land in Dhaka from Chittagong the previous evening because of heavy fog.
“Thus, the statement made by the Bangladesh Awami League General Secretary that no representative of Bangladesh Awami League was invited to the dialogue organised by the CPD, ASK, SHUJAN and TIB is not true,” the statement added. – UNB
