Gono Odhikar Parishad leader says Nur admitted to meeting Israeli citizen Mendi N Safadi; Nur denies

Joint Convener of Gono Odhikar Parishad Faruk Hasan claimed that the party's member secretary Nurul Haque Nur admitted to having held a meeting with Israeli citizen Mendi N Safadi, an allegation that Nur immediately rubbished.

Speaking at a press conference organised by a faction of the Gono Odhikar Parishad held at the National Press Club on Thursday (6 July), Hasan said,  "Although he [Nur] did not admit it in the media, he admitted meeting with Safadi in several internal meetings of the party. However, Nur did not tell the party what the meeting was about."  

Hasan also said, "Nur admitted meeting with Mendi N Safadi, an Israeli citizen in Qatar. However, he denied receiving any financial benefits. Although he acknowledged the meeting, he refused to inform the members of the central committee what was the agenda of the meeting." 

However, Nurul Huq Nur, who was attending another programme at the National Press Club today, refuted Faruk's claims and denied admitting to meeting Safadi during party meetings. 

"This is propaganda by the government," he said.

Meanwhile, Hasan also brought up the matter of removal of Reza Kibria from the post of the party's convener by the party faction supported by Nur.

In a written speech at the press conference, Hasan said, "According to the party constitution, the alleged removal of Reza Kibria is completely illegal. We do not support the illegal impeachment process against Reza Kibria and consider him as the convener of the party. We also want to declare that those who fixed the day of the council without Dr Reza Kibria are planning to push the party towards disintegration." 

He said, "According to Article 38 of the constitution of the party, to pass and remove the motion of no confidence against the convener, the support of two-thirds of the total members of the central committee i.e. at least 81 members out of 121 members is required. Therefore it is impossible to remove the convener in a meeting with only 45 members present. Among those 45 people, 12 took a stand for Reza Kibria. As a result, it can be seen that 83 members of the central committee are in favour of Reza Kibria.

"Moreover, in the said meeting, if the members called for voting by secret ballot, they were asked to show their support by raising their hands publicly instead of doing so. As a result, many refrained from voting. But in a press release after the meeting, Reza Kibria was claimed to have been removed by a two-thirds vote, which is completely unconstitutional and fraudulent," he added.

He also said that Reza Kibria was not expelled according to the party constitution.

During the press conference, the faction claimed themselves to be the actual Gono Odhikar Parishad and made three demands. These include the re-establishment of a neutral caretaker government, release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Jamaat leader Shafiqur Rahman, Hefazet Islam leader Maulana Mamunal Haque and reinstatement of the text "except Israel" in the Bangladeshi passport. 

Faruk also said that the party is in favour of the Palestine cause.