BNP, Jamaat demonstrators quit scene as PM invites for talk: PM speechwriter

A group of BNP and Jamaat supporters, who were demonstrating outside The Ritz Carlton hotel where prime minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina joined a civic reception on Tuesday (local time), quit the scene as she called them for an interaction.

"PM's such good gesture went in vain as BNP and Jamaat demonstrators left their positions outside the hotel after the PM desired to talk with them about their problems," PM's speechwriter M Nazrul Islam told a news briefing.

Sheikh Hasina arrived in the United States on April 28 to attend a World Bank (WB) programme marking the 50 years of Bangladesh-WB partnership.

Nazrul Islam said the prime minister expressed her desire to talk with the representatives of the BNP-Jamaat as she saw them demonstrating outside the hotel amid cold and rain while coming to attend the civic reception.

"What do they want to say? Let them do that coming in, here," he quoted the PM as saying.

The PM's PS-II and one official from the local Bangladesh mission went to the demonstrators to invite them to the hotel after getting permission from the prime minister.