The US ambassador has made a fresh appeal for the resumption of dialogue between the Awami League and the BNP to hold fresh elections “as soon as possible”.
Published : 16 Jan 2014, 04:17 PM
He said he felt encouraged to see ‘positive’ political developments.
Dan Mozena said he observed both sides – the ruling Awami League and the BNP took “positive steps” during and after the BNP Chairperson’s press conference.
He said the two parties now “can find a way forward to restart dialogue” with the intention of holding elections “as soon as possible”.
Mozena was talking to journalists after being briefed by the new junior foreign minister Md Shahriar Alam about the Jan 5 elections and the post-election situation.
The ambassador was referring to Khaleda Zia’s press conference where she, instead of calling fresh blockades and shutdowns, called for countrywide rallies and black-badge protests. The Awami League leaders were also restrained in their reactions much after the press briefing.
The BNP boycotted the elections because its demand for a non-party caretaker government to oversee the polls has not been granted, resulting in more than half of the seats returning uncontested winners.
In an immediate response after the voting, the US called for fresh elections “as soon as possible”.
This was the first briefing of the new minister after the government was formed on Sunday.
The US envoy said he was “pleased” with the briefing as “he reinforced the government’s view that there needs to be a dialogue with the intent to hold elections”.
The junior foreign minister conveyed the Prime Minister’s message to diplomats that the government was ready for talks but BNP must shun violence and sever its ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said the government viewed Khaleda Zia’s dialogue call as “positive step”, but added it was “disappointing” that “she has once again put all blames for violence, including those against the minority communities, squarely on the government”.
The British High Commissioner Robert Gibson after the briefing said he recalled his senior foreign affairs minister Syeda Hossain Warsi’s call for dialogue between the two parties and stopping violence in any form.
The EU head of delegation William Hanna repeated the EU’s earlier position that the two parties must engage in “genuine dialogue”.
Diplomats and representatives from different missions and agencies, including the European Union, the USA, the UK, Canada, India, China, Russia and Arab nations, were present.