Bangladesh growing with Bangabandhu’s vision: John Kerry

US Secretary of State John Kerry has visited the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmondi 32 in Dhaka and paid his respects to the Bangladesh’s founding father.

He remembered Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and in the visitor book wrote that the tragedy was an end of a “brilliant and courageous” leader of people of Bangladesh. bdnews24.com saw the message.

"But today Bangladesh is growing with the vision of Bangabandhu and under the strong leadership of his daughter,” he wrote on Monday.

“The United States is proud to be a friend and strong fellow traveller in the fulfiilment of his vision. We look forward for growing and working together for peace and prosperity,” he wrote.

This was the first visit to the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum by any secretary of state of the US.

This is the house where Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated along with his family members on the fateful night of Aug 15, 1975.

His daughters Sheikh Hasina, current prime minister, and Sheikh Rehana were saved because they were abroad at that time.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Radwan Mujib Siddiq, son of Rehana, received the secretary of state at the museum when he reached there around 11:45am.

He arrived on Monday morning on a short visit before leaving for New Delhi in the evening.

Now he is meeting the prime minister in her office.

His visit is taking place amid US’s growing security concerns in Dhaka following the July 1 terrorist attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery and O' Kitchen restaurant in which 20 hostages, including 17 foreigners, were killed.

Washington expressed solidarity with Dhaka in the fight against terrorism and offered counterterrorism assistance like many other countries.

The government, however, maintained that it would take “need-based” support from all “friendly” countries to eliminate terrorism and extremism.
 
The US Department of State said his visit was to highlight the “longstanding and broad based US-Bangladesh relationship”.