A delegation of the European Parliament (EP) met BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office on Tuesday evening in the first leg of their visit to Bangladesh to assess the human rights situation..
The BNP told the visiting delegation of the European Parliament’s Sub-committee on Human Rights that they are ready to sit in dialogue with the government to resolve the ongoing political crisis.
The party also told the EP team that the government is carrying out subversive acts with its agents only to malign opposition’s ongoing movement.“Having an unelected government in power is the main reason behind the current political crisis. So we’ve made clear our position that we want to resolve the ongoing political deadlock through talks. We’re ready to sit with the government anytime,” BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan who was present at the meeting said.
The six-member EP delegation is being led by the vice-chairperson of European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, Cristian Dan Preda.
Neither the EP delegation nor the BNP officially issued press statements after the meeting.
BNP Standing Committee member Nazrul Islam Khan, who was at the meeting, however later told journalists that they have provided the delegation with detailed information on human rights violations across the country. Khan said the government unleashed a ‘reign of terror’ to suppress the Opposition.
“We have told them (EP delegation) in no uncertain terms that the BNP is against violence and we want those involved with violent actions to be punished. But we have said the government is now engaged in total suppression of democratic rights,” Khan told journalists.
Khan is the first important BNP leader to have entered Khaleda’s Gulshan office in the past one week after the arrest of Mossadeq Ali.
The EP delegation entered Khaleda’s office at 6pm. They were received inside the office by Khaleda’s Special Assistant Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas.
Nazrul Islam Khan and Abdul Qayum, member of BNP chairperson’s advisory committee, joined Khaleda in discussions with the EP delegation.
A resolution has been placed in the European Parliament expressing concern over the human rights situation and the rise in extra-judicial killings in Bangladesh.
The EP delegation’s visit is aimed at securing a first hand assessment of the human rights situation in Bangladesh.
During their visit that began on Monday, the EP delegation will also hold discussions with the government.
Notably, the BNP has sent to all foreign diplomatic missions a list of its leaders and activists who have been killed in fake encounters, the party says.
According to that list, 43 of the 78 people killed in violence since the start of the transport blockade on Jan 5 are leaders or activists of the BNP-led 20 party alliance.
The BNP says that in the last one month, 18,000 of their leaders and activists have been arrested and nearly 700,000 of them have been charged in fabricated cases.
Khan said extra-judicial killings and disappearances, human rights and labour rights violations and the political situation in Bangladesh came up for discussion with the EP delegation.
He said the BNP presented the EP delegation with detailed evidence of government oppression. – News Desk
