Staff Reporter:
BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday said the whole world supports Bangla-desh’s democratic transition through elections.
He said, “The whole world supports this democratic transition. Specifically, the support of the democrat-ic world is completely present here.”
Fakhrul made the remark in response to journalists’ questions at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Air-port terminal after returning home from the United States late Friday on an Emirates Airlines flight.
Fakhrul said, “Our only message is to return to democracy; we will prepare for the February election as instructed by our Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman.”
The veteran BNP leader travelled to New York on September 23 as part of the delegation of Chief Ad-viser Professor Muhammad Yunus to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Chief Adviser returned home on October 2. The BNP Secretary General returned a day later after attend-ing a party programme in the United States.
Other members of the Chief Adviser’s delegation included the BNP Acting Chairman’s adviser Humayun Kabir, Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, NCP member secretary Akh-ter Hossain, and joint convener Tasnim Zara.
Regarding his trip to attend the UN General Assembly session, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We accompanied the honourable Chief Adviser to the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly at his invita-tion, and we fulfilled our responsibilities there as far as we were required. I believe our visit was suc-cessful.”
“This is the first time the government has invited the major political parties to demonstrate national unity and in that respect this visit has certainly been successful. Bangladesh’s message has reached the world,” he added.
Mirza Fakhrul further said, “We believe that the side meetings held in New York alongside the UN Gen-eral Assembly session have been very fruitful for Bangladesh and for democracy as a whole.”
When asked for a reaction to the incident of harassment upon landing at the airport in New York, he said, “We don’t consider these to be a big deal. This is the Awami League’s culture-to create such inci-dents.”
