DHAKA, 13 February 2005 — Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has dispatched her special envoy Reaz Rahman to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other high-ranking officials of the Bush administration to apprise them of the current situation in Bangladesh.
Reaz, also adviser to the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry, left Dhaka for Washington yesterday. His trip is the first visit by a top Bangladeshi official to the United States after George W. Bush was sworn-in as US president for a second time last month.
Officials said Reaz’s talks with Rice would mainly focus on the current political situation in Bangladesh, particularly in the aftermath of the killing of former Finance Minister Shah A.M.S. Kibria in a grenade attack in Habiganj on Jan. 27.
The US administration has strongly condemned the recent acts of political terrorism in Bangladesh, including the Aug. 21 and Jan. 27 grenade attacks.
Rice telephoned Prime Minister Zia on Feb. 1 and requested her to ensure that a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of Kibria was carried out.
During his talks in Washington, Reaz will apprise Rice and other US officials about Dhaka’s commitment to fight terrorism, track down the killers and bring them to justice. Officials said an FBI special agent, who was in Dhaka at the request of the government to start the process of investigation into the Habiganj attack, had left the Bangladesh capital for Washington on being assured of the government’s “fullest cooperation”.
The special envoy will also focus on the government’s initiatives to strengthen democracy and improve the human rights situation in Bangladesh. Economic and other issues may also come up during his meetings.
Reaz will return to Dhaka on Feb. 18.
The Bangladeshi government told special FBI agent Trung Vu before he left for Washington that Dhaka would provide the agency full access to evidence and witnesses for the probe.
“The FBI’s involvement in the probe now depends totally on Washington,” a top police officer told newsmen in Dhaka yesterday.
