Jamaat Ameer meets Khaleda Zia in London

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman and Nayeb-e-Ameer Dr Syeed Abdullah Muhammad Taher met with BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia at the residence of Tarique Rahman, the party’s acting chairman, in Kingston, London, earlier this week.

According to a Facebook post by Maruf Kamal Khan, former press secretary to Khaleda Zia, the meeting took place on Saturday afternoon, London local time. The post went viral on social media on Tuesday, bringing the private meeting into public discussion.

A senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami UK, speaking on condition of anonymity, told this correspondent that since no senior BNP figure has made any public statement on the matter so far, Jamaat also prefers not to comment on it for strategic reasons.

When contacted, MA Malek, president of the UK chapter of the BNP, said he was unaware of the matter. Maruf Kamal Khan, speaking to this correspondent on Tuesday night, said: “Everything has been mentioned in the status. You can quote from there.”

A BNP source said the meeting was driven by discussions centred on the upcoming national election and possible seat-sharing considerations.

The source added that although the Jamaat chief visited London last year as well, no meeting had taken place with Tarique Rahman at that time.