Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia has agreed to ‘unconditional’ Secretary General-level talks with the ruling Awami League to reach an understanding over the general election.
The breakthrough came from a meeting of top businesspersons of Bangladesh with the BNP chief at her Gulshan office on Saturday..
Saturday’s meeting was an attempt to broker talks between the two top feuding political alliances in Bangladesh.
FBCCI President Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed led the team of 50 businesspersons at the closed-door meeting at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan office.
The chamber leaders on Oct 28 had a meeting to thrash out a political solution to the possible political confrontation over the general election.
The move coincided with the efforts of some Left parties to meet the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader amid slender hopes of a dialogue.
The next day, they briefed the media about the meeting and urged the Awami League and the BNP to find a common ground on the election.
They also reminded the two major parties of the ‘repression’ during the last caretaker government’s regime and warned against a possible takeover by a ‘third force’ outside of the political realm.
Businesses had suffered “massive repression” during the 2007-8 military-backed caretaker government, they said.
“We want the political parties to reach an understanding,” the FBCCI President had said at a press briefing on Oct 29.
He said they had started pressurising the parties to reach an understanding.
“We’ll take the pressure to a level that an understanding will become inevitable,” he had said. – bdnews24.com
