British envoy, SQ Chy hold closed-door meeting

British High Commissioner Stephen Evans met BNP lawmaker Salauddin Quader Chowdhury at his Dhanmondi residence in the city yesterday, much to the 'surprise' of many in and outside the party.
The meeting lasted for about two hours from 4:30pm.
SQ Chowdhury, who does not hold any major post of the party, has recently strongly criticised former British envoy Anwar Choudhury, terming him a 'mastermind' of 1/11 political changeover.
However, neither SQ Chowdhury nor Evans made any comment to reporters on whether the issue of the remark was discussed in their closed-door meeting.
"The issue of our relations with Bangladesh, policy of the British government regarding the development of this country, climate change and the necessity of learning English for Bangladeshi people came up in the discussion," Evans told reporters after the meeting.
Talking to reporters, SQ Chowdhury termed the British envoy's visit to his house a positive step. "He [Evans] was not known to me before. He is a foreign diplomat and enquired about my family. I also wanted to know about his family and exchanged pleasantries."
"As he [Evans] is a foreign diplomat, I don't want to say anything more than what he said about our meeting. And I cannot make any comment which might be harmful to the interests of the government," Chowdhury said in reply to a question from a reporter.
"Apart from the climate change issue, the political atmosphere also came up in our discussion," he added.
Meanwhile, a number of BNP leaders, talking to The Daily Star, expressed surprise over the meeting between SQ Chowdhury and British envoy Evans.
They, however, said the issue of Chowdhury's recent remarks on foreign diplomats, including Anwar Choudhury, might have been the main reason for holding the meeting.