Throughout the day, rumours have circulated centring a purported meeting between former US ambassador Peter Haas and five leaders of the National Citizen Party – Hasnat Abdullah, Sarjis Alam, Tasnim Jara, Khaled Saifullah, and Nasiruddin Patwary.
Speaking to media, Patwary rubbished the claims of meeting Haas, while senior fact checker Qadaruddin Shishir said the former US ambassador was not even in Bangladesh.
Explaining the absence of the four party leaders from the programmes centring "July 36", NCP's Joint Member Secretary Mushfiq Us Salehin said some of the leaders had not been invited due to the state's "mismanagement".
"Nasiruddin Patwari, who played an important role in the formation of this advisory council as part of the liaison committee, was not invited. Out of the 158 coordinators of the Anti-discrimination Student movement, only a few have received invitations. Not all have been invited due to lack of space," Mushfiq said on a Facebook post.
He wrote that while Sarjis Alam and Hasnat Abdullah were among those invited, they did not consider it appropriate to join this ceremony as coordinators as many others had been excluded.
He added three NCP members – Convener Nahid Islam, Member secretary Akhtar Hossain and Senior Joint Member Secretary Nahida Sarwar Niba – would attend the event.
He further said many in the party had fallen ill following their month-long July March.
There are reports that Peter Haas and NCP leaders have checked into the same hotel, the Royal Tulip and are set to hold a "meeting".
"After 30 days of marches and countless rallies across the country, is it unusual for someone to go to the seaside for two days in this weather?"
Mushfiq also rubbished rumours that the party members had held a secret meeting with Haas.
"And why do they need to go to Cox's Bazar to hold a meeting? Is there a shortage of places to hold secret meetings in Dhaka?," he questioned.
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