All preparations are in place for Friday鈥檚 meeting between chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus and Bangladesh Nationalist Party acting chairman Tarique Rahman in London.
The meeting will be held at The Dorchester, a hotel in London where the chief adviser is now staying during his ongoing four-day visit to the United Kingdom.
Both the government side and senior BNP leaders said that there was no set agenda for the meeting, but the two were expected to discuss the ongoing political situation in Bangladesh, the upcoming parliamentary elections reforms, and the trial of the leaders of the Awami League and their allies involved in mass killings during the July-August mass uprising.
BNP leaders appreciated the head of the interim government for arranging the meeting in London, saying that the government had honoured the party鈥檚 leadership through the initiative.
They expressed hope that the meeting would bring good news to the nation by resolving the apparent deadlock between the BNP and the interim government over the next election deadline and reforms.
Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus arrived in London on Tuesday on a four-day official visit aimed at strengthening Bangladesh鈥揢K bilateral relations.
On the first day, Professor Yunus held meetings with Airbus executive vice president Wouter van Wersch and Menzies Aviation executive vice president Charles Wyley at his hotel.
He also met members of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group and was called on by the Commonwealth secretary general.
On Wednesday, the chief adviser held a meeting with UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell and received courtesy calls from Chatham House鈥檚 Asia-Pacific programme director Ben Bland and senior research fellow for South Asia Chietigj Bajpaee.
He also addressed the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House), which later hosted a reception in his honour.
On Thursday, the chief adviser attended the King Charles III Awards Ceremony, met with the speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and was called on by the chairman and CEO of UPL Limited Jai Shroff.
The chief adviser鈥檚 major event on Friday will be the meeting with BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.
BNP senior leaders described the meeting as a major political event and said that the meeting would help resolve the ongoing political challenges.
BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury arrived in London on Wednesday, but party sources said that he would not be present at the meeting, as the talks are expected to be one-on-one.
Tarique Rahman faced 84 criminal cases during the 2007鈥�08 army-backed caretaker government and the subsequent Awami League regime.
He was arrested in 2007 and secured bail in 2008 for medical treatment. After being released on bail, he went to London and has been living there since then.
Following the student-led mass uprising that overthrew the Awami League regime on August 5, 2024, all charges against him were dropped.
Regarding the meeting between the chief adviser and BNP acting chairman, BNP secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said, 鈥楾his is not just another political interaction. If things move in the right direction, the meeting can be a major political event, an event that can reshape the landscape of our national politics.鈥�
鈥榃e believe that the chief adviser invited the BNP acting chairman with good intentions, and we view it positively. Hopefully, the ongoing political situation, the timeline for the next election, reforms and the issue of trials will be discussed in the meeting,鈥� BNP standing committee member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain told 抖阴精品 on Thursday.
Another BNP standing committee member Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku said that they were happy with the initiative of the meeting between the chief adviser and the BNP acting chairman in London, as it reflected that the interim government honoured the leadership of the political party.
The Citizens鈥� Coalition, a civil society platform, welcomed the meeting in London, describing it as a hopeful step amid Bangladesh鈥檚 political crisis.
The coalition鈥檚 co-coordinators, Shahidul Alam and Irine Khan, urged both leaders to include in their talks a roadmap that sets the first week of February as the election date, instead of the government鈥檚 announced timeline of mid-April.
