The stay of a group of central leaders of the National Citizen Party in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday created controversies whether they avoided joining the July Declaration ceremony in Dhaka, marking the first anniversary of the July uprising.
As the senior NCP leaders were staying at a Cox’s Bazar hotel, a rumour spread fast that they were holding a meeting with former United States ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter D Haas.
A group of leaders and activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party staged a demonstration outside the Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa in the afternoon as the rumour spread on social media platforms.
‘It is a propaganda against the NCP,’ the party chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·.
He said that some media outlets spread such propaganda about our visit to Cox’s Bazar.
NCP leaders, including the party’s chief organiser for the north, Sarjis Alam, the chief organiser for the south, Hasnat Abdullah, and senior joint member secretary Tasnim Jara, stayed in Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday.
Diplomatic sources, however, confirmed that the former US diplomat, Peter D Haas, was now staying in Washington.
The leaders of the NCP, which was formed by a group of student and youth leaders who led the July uprising to oust the Awami League regime on August 5, made the visit when the nation was observing the first anniversary of the July uprising.
Over 100 BNP leaders and activists staged a protest demonstration Tuesday afternoon outside the Sea Pearl Beach Resort and Spa in Cox’s Bazar, reported ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· Staff Correspondent in Chattogram.
Selim Siraji, a BNP leader from Ukhiya upazila said, ‘We believe that there is a plot to derail the upcoming elections. Secret meetings with foreigners are nothing but a conspiracy against the sovereignty of the country. We will not allow this.’
Rafiqul Huda Chowdhury, a member of the district unit of Juba Dal, said, ‘We will not allow ourselves to be sold to any foreign masters. We remain suspicious, and this issue needs to be clarified. Their meeting here has angered us. We have only formed a human chain here peacefully.’
