Two leaders of the Awami League, including a state minister, on Sunday held a meeting with the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports in a move to make the committee understand the 'necessity' of the deal signed between the government and US oil company ConocoPhillips for oil and gas exploration in two deep-sea blocks.
AL presidium member Obaidul Quader and state
minister for housing and public works Abdul Mannan Khan initiated the preliminary talks with the committee leaders at the Farmgate office of its convener Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah and conveyed the prime minister's desire to hold a dialogue with the committee on the deal.
Both the AL delegation and the committee leaders said that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere and a dialogue could take place with the prime minister later.
'We just held preliminary talks with the committee leaders and discussed the issue in a cordial atmosphere' Obaidul Quader told New Age after the two- hour meeting that ended at 9:00 pm. He said that the committee had responded positively to the prime minister's call for a dialogue.
Quader, however, said that the discussion would continue in phases and 'we hope a final dialogue will be held with the prime minister.'
'The delegation wanted to know about our demands and we explained it in detail,' member-secretary of the committee Anu Muhammad told New Age after the meeting, adding that they had demanded scrapping of the deals with ConocoPhillips, implementation of Phulbari agreement and passing a bill with a provision for banning export of mineral resources.
He said that the delegation told the committee that they had come to convey the desire of the prime minister for holding a dialogue with the committee leaders and the issue would be finalised after informing the prime minister about the outcome of the preliminary talks.
The national committee leaders also told the AL team that the government should invite them formally for the proposed dialogue giving it time.
The AL leaders said that the objective of the committee and the government was the same as both wanted to safeguard the interest of the country and the differences could be resolved through dialogue, meeting sources said.
The convener of the national committee, Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah, member-secretary Anu Muhammad, leaders Justice Golam Rabbani, MM Akash, Akmal Hossain and Nur Mohammad attended the meeting, among others.
Last week, Obaidul Quader made a phone call to Khalequzzaman, general secretary of Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, and wanted to know the stand of the committee on the idea of talks with the government.
The AL leader also talked to the committee leaders over phone on July 2 and urged them to hold talks with the government instead of waging street movement.
On the same day, a representative from the Prime Minister's Office also met the member-secretary of the committee, Anu Muhammad at the office of the Communist Party of Bangladesh and told him that the prime minister had expressed her interest to talk to the committee.
Source : New Age
