Staff Correspondent:

Major political parties, including BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, started a meeting with the National Consensus Commission, led by Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus, on Saturday.

The meeting began at 3pm at the Foreign Service Academy in the capital, said BNP media cell member Sayrul Kabir Khan.

This is the first meeting between the political parties and the commission.

Delegations from BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, LDP, Jatiya Party (Kazi Jafar), Nagorik Oikya, Islami Andolan, Khilafat Majlish, GanoSanghati Andolan, Gono Odhhikar Parishad and Jatiya Nagorik Committee participated in the meeting.

Among them, a six-member BNP delegation, led by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, attended the meeting.

Besides, a five-member Jamaat delegation, led by its secretary general Mia Golam Parwar, joined the meeting.

On February 12, a seven-member ‘National Consensus Mission’ was formed under the leadership of the Chief Advisor.

Earlier, on February 10, a three-member BNP delegation, headed by Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, met Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus.

Following the meeting, Fakhrul said the chief adviser informed them that his government is working to organise the next general election by December this year.

The BNP leader expressed the hope that the government will present a roadmap to hold the election by December, as per the expectations of both the party and the public.

When asked about the timeline for the government’s announcement of the roadmap, Fakhrul replied that it would be determined by the government. “They will likely say something about it by February 15,” he added.