The Indian National Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, arrived in Dhaka on Sunday evening on a 24-hour tour amid tight security to attend an international autism conference.
She will also receive 'Bangladesh Freedom Honour' to be conferred posthumously on her mother-in-law and former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by the Bangladesh government.
The speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Fehmida Mirza, Sri Lankan first lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa and Maldives second lady Ilham Hussain, wife of the vice-president of the country, also arrived in Dhaka on the day to attend the conference. The government is giving them
VVIP protocol and security.
Sonia, who is visiting Dhaka on an invitation from prime minister Sheikh Hasina, arrived at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport by an Indian Air Force flight at about 8:45pm.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni, health minister Ruhal Haque, state minister for liberation war affairs Tajul Islam and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University vice-chancellor Pran Gopal Datta and child psychologist Saima Hossain Putul, also daughter of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, received them at the airport.
Sonia is staying at the Presidential Suite at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel while the three other VVIP guests are staying at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Sonia and the three other
VVIP visitors would place wreaths at the National Memorial at Savar this morning.
Later, they would visit Bangabandhu Memorial Museum at Dhanmandi.
Sonia will address the conference as the chief guest while Sheikh Hasina and three other VVIP visitors as special guests.
Sonia Gandhi will call on Sheikh Hasina at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel at about 12:30pm when they are expected to discuss bilateral issues. The meeting between the chiefs of the ruling parties of the two neighbouring countries precedes an official visit here by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh scheduled for September 6-7.
Foreign minister Dipu Moni will call on Sonia Gandhi at Sonargaon Hotel this afternoon.
At a function at the Bangabhaban at about 5:30pm, president Zillur Rahman will hand over to Sonia the 'Bangladesh Freedom Honour' to be conferred on Indira Gandhi posthumously for her unique contribution to Bangladesh's War of Liberation in 1971.
State-run Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar would air live the programme jointly organised by the ministries of foreign affairs and Liberation War affairs and the Cabinet Division.
At the ceremony, Zillur Rahman will hand over a crest weighing 3 kilograms and designed on a 400-year-old terracotta of a 'Kadam tree' made of gold to Sonia Gandhi.
Sonia will also call on Zillur Rahman.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will host a dinner in honour of the guests participating in the autism conference at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel.
Sonia is scheduled to leave Dhaka by a special flight at about 9:00pm today. Other visiting VVIPs are scheduled to leave Dhaka on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Centre for Neurodevelopment and Autism in Children of BSMMU and US-based Autism Speaks will jointly organise the conference. World Health Organisation is supporting the programme.
The main conference will be held on Monday and Tuesday and the post-conference training sessions and panel discussions on awareness and advocacy, education, services and research on autism spectrum disorders will take place at the BSMMU from Wednesday to Friday.
Bhutan's health minister Lyonpo Zangley Dukpa and a total of 52 experts from different countries will participate in the conference, and 370 participants will attend the training courses, said the organisers.
The government has issued top security alert, code named Grade-1, in the capital to ensure foolproof security for Sonia Gandhi and other VVIP guests.
Hundreds of police and intelligence personnel in plain clothes have been deployed at strategic points, including the airport, the conference venue Hotel Rupashi Bangla and Sonargaon Hotel, where Sonia Gandhi is staying, and on the BSMMU campus.
The aim of the conference is to change the negative perception about autism and motivate the society to 'accept children with autism', child psychologist Saima Hossain Putul, who envisaged the high-profile conference, said, according to bdnews24.com.
Putul, a US-licensed child psychologist, decided to host the mega gathering drawing regional politicians and global experts on autism when she came across some parents, physicians and teachers of Bangladesh in July 2010 in the capital and learnt about the terrible experiences of the families with 'special child'.
'We want to create public awareness through the conference,' Putul, daughter of prime minister Sheikh Hasina, told the news agency.
Source : New Age
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