Taranco has not finalised plans to visit Dhaka, say UN officials

UN officials have denied media reports in Bangladesh that Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernández-Taranco has finalised his Dhaka visit to try to broker a deal between the Awami League and BNP.

New York Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 17 Feb 2015, 05:41 AM
Updated : 17 Feb 2015, 06:57 AM

Eri Kaneko, Associate Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General's office, told bdnews24.com that Taranco had not finalised plans for the visit as yet.

Bangladesh's Permanent Representative to the UN, AKA Momen, also denied knowledge of any date being set for Taranco's trip to Bangladesh.

The UN had earlier said it was worried over renewed political strife and violence since the BNP-led alliance began a nationwide transport blockade on Jan 5.

In a regular briefing on Wednesday, Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said Taranco was tasked by the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to liaise with the Bangladesh government.

He had also told about a meeting between Taranco and US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal.

Some local media have been speculating since then that the Argentinian diplomat, who tried to mediate a political solution to the impasse in Bangladesh before the Jan 5, 2014 national election, was going to visit Dhaka yet again to make fresh efforts to resolve the current crisis.

Media reports claimed that Taranco had already spoken with officials of the US State Department, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN and other stakeholders in Bangladesh.

Ambassador Momen, however, said he had not spoken with Taranco.

“Some newspapers and web portals in Dhaka reported that Taranco is going to Dhaka soon. It was also said that I was not giving time to discuss the matter with the government. These are totally false,” he said, speaking to bdnews24.com on Monday.

“Whatever is going on now in Bangladesh in the name of shutdowns and blockade is being considered as pure terrorism by all and the international community wants to handle this in that way. Some see these as activities similar to the Islamic State,” said Momen.

According to him, media loyal to the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami are running a false propaganda against the government.

“Those, who are concerned about Bangladesh and works for the country, are not being misled by these propaganda. Until now everyone is supporting the government’s resolve to have a democratic and terrorism-free Bangladesh.”

More than 80 people have died in the violence, mostly in fire bombings on vehicles, since Jan 5 when the BNP-led coalition called an indefinite transport blockade across the country.

The government has also started a crackdown against the troublemakers. Several senior BNP leaders, including acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, have been arrested in cases of violence and are in jail now.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been named as the ‘instigator’ in three cases of firebombing on vehicles filed by the police.

However, the BNP has said that they are open to any international initiatives to resolve the crisis.

In a recent interview with The Times of India, BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moin Khan said they would welcome UN initiates to open talks between his party and the ruling Awami League.