Dhaka: In her first diplomatic appearance after six years, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia held a meeting with the Saudi Ambassador, Issa bin Youssef Al-Duhailan, in Dhaka today.
The Saudi envoy came to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chairperson’s Gulshan office around 8 pm to meet her.
The 79-year old Khaleda Zia was accompanied by her personal physician and BNP Standing Committee member Professor Dr AZM Jahid Hossain, along with her advisory council member Dr Enamul Haque Chowdhury, during the meeting.
This is also the first time in almost a decade that a Saudi ambassador held a meeting with the former prime minister.
Previously, on September 13, 2015, the then-Saudi ambassador Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi paid a courtesy call on Khaleda Zia at her office in Gulshan, as per UNB.
The details of today’s meeting so far have not been disclosed.
Before this, Khaleda Zia had made her very first public appearance on Thursday at the Armed Forces Day reception. There she was warmly greeted by Chief Advisor Mohammed Younus who remarked that the event was “particularly lucky and honoured” to be “graced by her presence.”
The BNP leader had been placed under house arrest by ex-PM Sheikh Hasina on corruption charges back in 2018. She was released by the army-backed Interim Government in August.
UNI
