Bangladesh Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia called off her meeting with Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at the eleventh hour, as he landed in the Bangladeshi capital on Monday amid escalating violence.
“We had fixed a time for Begum Khaleda Zia to call on our president well in advance and this had been in our programme for quite some time. The president was in fact looking forward to meeting Begum Khaleda Zia, the programme was accepted,” Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said. “The reason given in an email to the high commission in India was that there was a hartal [strike] between March 3 and 5 and experience shows that such hartals [strikes] often turn violent, thereby causing security and safety concerns for the movement of people. And it is precisely because of these concerns that the proposed timetable for the meeting with the president will not be suitable.”
Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni described Zia’s decision as “discourteous”.
Incidentally, Zia had met the president during her visit to Delhi last year. The move comes at a time when the Shahbagh protests have entered the 27th day.
Zia’s change of plans is significant as the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) supports the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), which has called for a nationwide general strike in protest against the war crimes trials. The trials, supported by the Sheikh Hasina government, have sentenced top JI leaders to death. The JI is an ally of former PM Zia’s party and was a partner in her government from 2001 to 2006.
