Reporters boycotted a press conference of the National Citizen Party on allegation of maltreating them at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Thursday.
The incident took place at the airport鈥檚 VIP gate at about 9:45am, when acting BNP chairperson鈥檚 foreign affairs adviser Humayun Kabir was briefing the reporters and NCP leaders were chanting slogans.
The chief adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, had left for New York on September 22 to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
He was accompanied by several political leaders, including Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP acting chair鈥檚 foreign affairs adviser Humayun Kabir, Jamaat-e-Islami nayeb-e-amir Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher, party member Mohammad Nakibur Rahman, and NCP member seretary Akhtar Hossen and senior joint member secretary Tasnim Jara.
The delegation, except Mirza Fakhrul, returned to Dhaka on Thursday morning.
Reporters alleged that Humayun Kabir was speaking to the media when NCP activists began chanting slogans and greeting Akhtar and Jara with flowers.
The noise of the slogans made it difficult for the reporters to hear Humayun and when a reporter asked the NCP activists to lower their voice, some reacted with disrespectful conduct towards the reporters.聽
This prompted the reporters to announce a boycott of the press conference of Akhtar and Jara.
In a statement, NCP joint chief coordinator and media cell member Khan Muhammad Mursalin said that the allegations of misconduct by some activists were unfortunate and condemnable.
The statement said that Akhtar, along with senior joint convener Ariful Islam Adeeb and joint member secretary Mushfiq us Saleheen, had already apologised to the reporters for the behaviour.
It said that the party was investigating the matter, working to identify those responsible. The party also said that organisational action would be taken against those responsible if the allegations were proven correct.