Envoys meet Khaleda

Some foreign diplomats, including the US and EU ambassadors in Dhaka, yesterday stressed the need for building confidence among political parties to de-escalate the country's political conflict.

The diplomats were in a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office in the evening.

Briefing journalists after the meeting, Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Greg Wilcock said: "We encouraged confidence-building measures, including the de-escalation of Bangladesh's political conflict, in the interest of fostering safety, stability, growth, human rights and democracy in Bangladesh."

"We called for an end to the continuing violence in Bangladesh and our efforts to this end will continue."

The meeting with the BNP chief followed a similar meeting with the Bangladesh foreign minister on March 1, he added.

"Recalling our previous statements on recent events in Bangladesh, and those by the UN, we called for an end to Bangladesh's continuing violence," said the Australian envoy.

The diplomats entered Khaleda's office around 6:35pm.

There was no formal briefing from the BNP about the outcome of the two-hour meeting. Meeting sources told this newspaper that Khaleda informed the diplomats in detail about the reasons for the ongoing movement.

The diplomats inquired about the killing of innocent people in firebomb attacks during the movement. Khaleda blamed the ruling Awami League men for carrying out such attacks on common people. The BNP handed over newspaper clippings and video clips to the diplomats.

BNP standing committee member Nazrul Islam Khan and Khaleda's adviser Abdul Kaium, also a former inspector general of police, assisted the party chief in the meeting.

The BNP-led 20-party alliance has been enforcing countrywide indefinite blockade since January 6 demanding a midterm election under a non-partisan administration. The combine has also been enforcing nationwide hartals since February 1, except for weekends, to press home the demand.