Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)– Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday held a meeting here with former Prime Minister and chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Khaleda Zia in the capital Dhaka.

 
The meeting was termed as a "courtesy meeting" by Indian officials, according to the PTI report.
 
The PTI said the external affairs minister's meeting with Khaleda Zia comes in the backdrop of the Indian government's efforts to reach out to all sections of Bangladesh society.
Interestingly, the BNP chairperson did not meet President Pranab Mukherjee during his first official foreign visit here after assuming office last year.
 
Zia's party had cited security reasons for her calling off the meeting with Mukherjee in view of a two-day general strike called by BNP's ally Jamaat-e-Islami to press for a halt to the trial of fundamentalist leaders for war crimes during Bangladesh's liberation war in 1971. 
 
The meeting between the BNP chief and the Indian External Affairs Minister began around 10:35am (local time) at Sonargaon Hotel’s Bengal Suite and ended at 11:10 am, local media reported.
 
BNP vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, standing committing member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan and BNP Chairperson’s  advisers Riaz Rahman and Sabihuddin Ahmed, and party acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir accompanied Khaleda Zia at the meeting.
 
BBN/SSR/AD-27June14-12:27 pm (BST)