DHAKA: BNP Vice Chairman Abdullah Al Noman on Saturday outspokenly said “we want India’s friendship in various bilateral issues, not lordship”.

The BNP leader made the assertion while addressing a discussion meeting organized by Love Bangladesh Foundation to unveil cover of three books written by journalist Sahadat Hossain Khan at the National Press Club in the afternoon.

Noman also said, “We have not seen instances of India’s friendship. Day by day, disputes are increasing. They are doing everything to show Bangladesh as a failed state.”

Addressing the function, Jubo Dal President Moazzem Hossain Alal said, “India is our friend but such a friend who borrows but does not give back.”

With National Press Club president Kamal Uddin Sabuj in the chair, the function was addressed, among others, by Maruf Kamal Khan, press secretary to BNP chairperson, senior journalist of Dainik Inquilab Abdul Awal Thakur and former army chief Lieutenant General (retd) Nur Uddin Khan.

BDST: 2140 HRS, AUG 23, 2014