US Assistant Secretary to visit B'desh on Nov 11

Dhaka, Nov 5: US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher is likely to travel to Bangladesh from November 11.

Diplomatic sources told sources last night that Boucher will arrive here on November 11 as part of his four-nation South Asian tour that would also take him to India, Pakistan and Nepal.

The US Assistant Secretary will hold talks with wide range people including political party leaders, representative of civil society on November 12 on the coming general elections.

He will also call on President and Chief Advisor of caretaker government Professor Iajuddin Ahmed.

The purpose of Boucher's planned visit would be to assess the current political situation and press for peaceful, credible and non-violent elections.

The sources, however, disagreed with the notion that he would be here on a troubleshooting mission to ensure peaceful elections with participation of all political parties.

They said the US is always interested in seeing peaceful credible elections in Bangladesh, but Washington believes that any dispute over the elections should be resolved by the political parties and the people of Bangladesh.

UNI