Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus has held talks with senior representatives of several political parties following the shooting of an election hopeful in Dhaka.
The meeting, which began at around 11:15am on Saturday, took place at the State Guest House Jamuna, according to officials from the Chief Adviser’s Office. Each party was represented by two senior figures.
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) delegation included Standing Committee member Salahuddin Ahmed and retired army officer Major Hafiz Uddin Ahmed. Jamaat-e-Islami was represented by its Secretary General Mia Golam Porwar and Assistant Secretary General Ehsanul Mahbub Zubair.
The National Citizen Party (NCP) delegation comprised its convener, Nahid Islam, and Chief Organiser for the southern region, Hasnat Abdullah.
The talks come a day after Osman Hadi, an independent election aspirant and convener of the Inquilab Mancha platform, was shot in Dhaka’s Bijoynagar area.
Police say the attack took place shortly after Mr Hadi had finished a campaign programme at a mosque in Motijheel. He was travelling by battery-powered rickshaw with colleagues towards Suhrawardy Udyan when a gunman riding pillion on a motorcycle opened fire, striking him in the head.
Mr Hadi was first taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where doctors performed emergency brain surgery. He was later transferred to Evercare Hospital, where medical staff described his condition as critical.
Later on Friday, Mr Yunus convened an emergency meeting of the Advisory Council and senior law enforcement officials, calling the shooting one of the most serious incidents to occur during the interim government’s tenure.
He described the attack as a premeditated attempt to undermine Bangladesh’s democratic process and warned that authorities would not tolerate efforts to destabilise the country or disrupt the forthcoming parliamentary election and referendum.
“No matter what challenges arise, no force will be able to derail the election,” Mr Yunus said.
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