Staff Reporter :
A disagreement has emerged within the National Citizen Party (NCP) over the interpretation of a meeting held on March 11 with Bangladesh Army Chief General Waker-uz-Zaman, as two senior party leaders have provided conflicting accounts of the discussion.
Sarjis Alam, the NCP’s Chief Organiser for the North, distanced himself from the comments made by Hasnat Abdullah, his counterpart from the South, who had claimed that senior military officials pressured him and two others to accept the concept of a “refined” Awami League.
In a social media post on Saturday, Sarjis described the matter as an “opinion” rather than a formal proposal.
“The way Hasnat interpreted and received the army chief’s statement that day and wrote about it on Facebook differs somewhat from my perspective,” Sarjis wrote in a verified Facebook post at 12:12 p.m. yesterday.
“There is a distinction between ‘expressing an opinion’ and ‘making a proposal.’ However, compared to previous instances, the army chief spoke more directly on that occasion.”
Sarjis’s remarks came shortly after Netra News reported that the Bangladesh Army had denied Hasnat’s claims, dismissing them as “laughable and a childish array of stories.”
The Army Headquarters acknowledged the meeting but described Hasnat’s allegations as “nothing but a complete political stunt.”
In his post, Sarjis clarified that the NCP leaders were not summoned to the cantonment but had requested the meeting themselves.
He explained their ongoing communication with the army chief’s military adviser, particularly after General Waker-uz-Zaman’s stern speech on 26 February, the anniversary of the 2009 Pilkhana massacre, in which he declared, “Enough is enough.”
“I asked his military adviser if they sensed anything unusual or concerning from their perspective,” Sarjis wrote.
“In response, he asked me, ‘Do you want to discuss this directly?’ I said, ‘We could.’ Following that, we met the army chief that very day.”
Sarjis’s statement downplayed Hasnat’s depiction of military pressure but confirmed that the discussion did touch on the future role of the Awami League in the political landscape.
“The conversation was definitely more direct and confident than usual,” he said.
“There was a clear and direct opinion expressed that, for the sake of the country’s stability, the participation of a refined Awami League in the election was necessary.”
Sarjis also confirmed that the meeting covered the potential involvement of key figures like Saber Hossain, Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, and Sohel Taj, as well as possible scenarios for the Awami League’s return to electoral politics.
However, he emphasised that he did not interpret the exchange as an attempt to exert undue influence on the NCP’s leadership.
“Regarding the idea of ‘pressure’ for a refined Awami League, I did not perceive it as pressure being exerted,” he wrote.
“Rather, [the army chief] was confidently stating that if a refined Awami League does not emerge, long-term issues will arise in the country’s situation and among political parties.”
The divergence in narratives between the two senior NCP leaders adds to the growing tensions within the party, which was formed earlier this year by former activists and reformists in response to widespread discontent with Bangladesh’s traditional political establishment.
