BNP starts formal talks with political parties

BNP’s planned talks with the opposition political parties will begin on Tuesday to work out the outline for launching a united movement to 'restore' democracy and people’s voting rights.

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir came up with the announcement at a press conference at the party chairperson’s Gulshan office.

On the first day, he said they will hold talks with Nagorik Oikya at 5:00pm at its Topkhana Road office.

The BNP leader said their party’s standing committee took the decision at its virtual meeting on Monday night.

“Our standing committee meeting decided to formally start talks with the political parties with the aim of forging a movement for the restoration of democracy. We’re initiating the talks today (Tuesday), Fakhrul said.

He said they will talk to the political parties and finalise the outline of a united movement through the discussions.

The BNP leader said they will sit with other opposition parties gradually after today’s meeting with Nagorik Oikya.

Replying to a question, he said BNP will not hold talks with just its alliance partners but also with all other political parties.

Asked whether they will hold a discussion with Jamaat-e-Islami, Fakhrul said they want to talk to every party, including Jamaat.

Replying to another question about the existence of the 20-party alliance, he said they still did not abolish the 20-party alliance. “We’ll finalise the future course of the alliance e through the talks.”