BNP hands docs to US official

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The visiting deputy assistant to US President Donald Trump, Lisa Curtis, held a meeting with BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir at the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office yesterday. The BNP handed over some documents to the US official during the closed-door meeting, said party sources. BNP leaders said the documents handed over consist of a list of cases filed against party leaders and activists from 2009, a list of people who had been victims of enforced disappearances and another list of people arrested before and after party Chairperson Khaleda Zia was sent to jail in a graft case.

The hour long meeting of Lisa Curtis and BNP secretary general began at 2:45pm and continued for over an hour. The country’s overall situation including the latest development in the political arena, sending Khaleda in jail and the party’s stance over participation in the next polls came up during the hour-long discussion, said a leader.

The BNP highlighted the government’s repressive measures against opposition activists, implicating them in false cases and the scenario before and after Khaleda’s imprisonment, he said.

When asked, another BNP leader said overall issues have come up during the discussing, terming the meeting a private and closed-door one and declined to make any further comment over the meeting. US Ambassador in Dhaka Marcia Bernicat accompanied Lisa Curtis during the meeting while BNP standing committee member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and Abdul Awal Mintoo, among others, were present.