On the first anniversary of the historic July Uprising, five senior leaders of the National Citizen Party (NCP) made a sudden trip to Cox’s Bazar on Tuesday, triggering political speculation and public curiosity.
Airport sources confirmed that the leaders– NCP chief coordinator Nasiruddin Patwary, chief organiser (north) Sarjis Alam, chief organiser (south) Hasnat Abdullah, senior joint member secretary Tasnim Zara, and her husband, joint convener Khaled Saifullah– landed at Cox’s Bazar Airport on a Bangladesh Biman flight from Dhaka around 11:30 am.
The group headed straight to the five-star Sea Pearl Beach Resort & Spa (formerly Royal Tulip) in Inani, about 20 kilometers from the airport.
Sources from law enforcement said neither the administration nor security agencies had been informed about the visit beforehand.
Political circles quickly began buzzing with rumours that the NCP leaders were in Cox’s Bazar to meet former US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas, who is currently Strategic Adviser to the US-based LNG export company Accelerate Energy.
“On such a significant day, their sudden visit and stay in a remote five-star hotel have raised suspicions and fueled curiosity. Rumours about a meeting with Peter Haas are only intensifying this,” said Cox’s Bazar district BNP president Shahjahan Chowdhury.
However, he added he was still verifying Haas’s presence in Cox’s Bazar.
Meanwhile, Sea Pearl Resort’s chief security officer, retired army officer Kamruzzaman, dismissed the speculation, saying, “No such guest, including Peter Haas, is at our hotel. There are no foreign nationals on today’s guest list.”
Addressing the controversy, Nasiruddin Patwary dismissed the reports as “false and baseless.”
“We didn’t come here to meet anyone. It was a sudden trip after the march; we just wanted some rest at the beach,” Patwary said. “Right after checking in, we saw rumours everywhere. If we wanted to meet Peter Haas, we could have done so in Dhaka.”
The leaders’ trip coincided with official state events in Dhaka marking the uprising’s anniversary, including cultural programmes and the reading of the historic “July Declaration” by interim government Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus at the National Parliament’s South Plaza in the evening.
Patwary clarified that a formal NCP delegation would join the state events later in the day.
“Our convener and member secretary were invited, and like other parties, we are sending a small representative team,” he added.
The sudden Cox’s Bazar visit, however, remains a talking point in political circles, underscoring the heightened intrigue surrounding the July Uprising’s anniversary.
