The local media reports quoting the ruling Awami League insiders said the premier preferred to stay at home due to the country’s ongoing political uncertainty over the elections and the next parliament session beginning today.
However, diplomatic sources told The Daily Star newspaper that the decision of not going to the US is largely the result of a failure to arrange a bilateral meeting with Obama.
Foreign Ministry’s director general on UN affairs Sadia Muna did not comment on the change of the plan but said the 68th UNGA session was important for Dhaka as it would discuss issues of UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in a crucial meeting on the sidelines where Hasina was specially invited in view of Bangladesh’s outstanding achievements in this regard.
But several leaders of main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said the premier scrapped the planned visit to evade intensified international pressures to reach a consensus with her archrival Khaleda Zia on electoral system to end the current political impasse.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged Hasina and Zia to end the current political deadlock over electoral system through a constructive dialogue two weeks after UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon called up the two leaders in an identical move while the global body earlier warned the two parties about possible military interventions unless they could reach a consensus.
The diplomatic sources also said Dhaka’s relations with Washington had lost some glow mainly over the government’s harsh treatment of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.