Amid the countrywide blockade and hartal, a delegation of European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights arrives in Dhaka today evening to witness human rights situation in Bangladesh.
Vice-Chair of the subcommittee on the Human Rights, Christian Dan Preda will lead the three-member delegation, said an official here on Sunday.
The delegation will start work from Tuesday morning and leave Dhaka on Friday, said the official.
The delegation will meet Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Law Minister Anisul Huq.
Though there is no scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia yet, the delegation might meet Khaleda before wrapping up their visit, according to a diplomatic source.
Though the objective of the visit is HR issues, the current political situation might come up on the discussion table, said the source.
During their visit, the delegation would also hold meetings with civil society members and NGOs’.
Earlier, the EP, in a resolution, urged the BNP to cut ties with Jamaat and Hefajat and firmly said the political parties associated with “terrorist acts” in Bangladesh should be banned. “(The European Parliament) urges the BNP to unequivocally distance itself from Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefajat-e Islam”.
BNP which boycotted the January-5 elections enforced countrywide transport blockade and hartal programmes demanding fresh polls under a neutral administration.
