US envoy's visit to Mayer Dak coordinator's house won't hurt ties: Info minister
The controversy over the visit of US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas to the residence of 'Mayer Dak' coordinator will not harm the relationship between Bangladesh and the United States, said Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Thursday.
"Of course, the United States is our development partner. They have a great role in our development journey," said the minister while talking to reporters at the Secretariat.
"I would urge the US ambassador to stay alert about any wrong advice or attempt to make him biased like this," he said.
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Those who advised Haas to visit the residence of the coordinator of Mayer Dak made him controversial, he said.
"I don't know who advised him…[but they]did not give the right advice," the minister added.
"But I think the decision was up to the envoy and he also needed to focus on our special days," he said.
The minister said it would have been great if Haas had visited the Martyred Intellectuals' Memorial, marking the Martyred Intellectuals Day on Wednesday.
Ambassador Haas visited the residence of Sanjida Islam, coordinator of Mayer Dak, a platform of the relatives of the victims of enforced disappearance, at Shaheenbagh in the city on Wednesday morning. Sanjida is the sister of BNP leader Sajedul Islam Sumon, reportedly a victim of enforced disappearance that took place in 2013.
Hasan Mahmud said the foreign affairs ministry was not aware of the matter and Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has already said so.
