Staff Reporter :Around 20 government functionaries, mainly OSDs (Officers on Special Duty) and BNP-minded officials held a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her political office at Gulshan on Thursday night.They reportedly discussed the possibility of forming a Janatar Mancha-like platform to mount pressure on the government, said meeting sources preferring anonymity.In 1996, the then opposition Awami League city unit chief Mohammad Hanif organised Janatar Mancha, a platform to mobilise government officials against the then ruling BNP to force it out of office.The visiting secretariat officials, led by Joint Secretary AKM Jahangir, went to the BNP chairperson’s Gulshan office around 7:45pm. Another 20 officials joined the meeting.The sources said Senior Assistant Secretary – Ehsanul Haque, Administrative Officer of the Ministry of Science and Technology – Ibrahim Miazee, Taufiqul Islam of the same ministry, Nurul Islam of the Jute and Textile Ministry, Abdul Mannan and AKM Humayun Kabir of the Local Government Ministry, Sarkar Toha of the Environment and Forest Ministry, Badiul Kabir of the Public Administration Ministry, Shahidul Haque of the Information ministry and Mujahidul Islam Selim of the Cabinet Division attended the meeting.They further said some other officials were also scheduled to attend the programme but because of intelligence surveillance, they skipped it even after almost reaching the office.BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, vice-chairman Shamser Mobin Chowdhury, chairperson’s advisers Sabih Uddin Ahmed and MA Qayyum were at the meeting.On September 16, the state minister for public administration told parliament that 138 officials were made OSD in the last nine months.BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia reached her office at 9:20pm yesterday. The party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir entered the office minutes ahead of his party chief.Around 10:20pm some of the officials began to leave. Others were still at the meeting till midnight. Thirteen government officers secretly met in Uttara at the house of former energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman on November 24, 2006.At 11:30pm, Khaleda Zia’s Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told reporters: “I do not know whether there was any scheduled meeting. Like on other days, many people come to meet Madam [Khaleda].”At 10:30pm, Khaleda’s adviser and former secretary MA Halim left the office and told journalists that there was no scheduled meeting.Asked about who was meeting with Khaleda, Halim remained silent.Asked how many secretariat officials were present, Halim said: “I am also a former secretary. I do not know anything about a secretaries’ meeting.”Usually, when there is any programme at the BNP chairperson’s office, journalists are allowed to enter the office but they were restricted Thursday night.
