Published : 13 May 2013, 12:10 PM
The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs has pitched for an immediate dialogue among political parties to find a solution to the current crisis.
“Quicker the dialogue starts, the easier it’ll be to find solutions,” Oscar Fernandez- Taranco said at a crowded press briefing on Monday, the last day of his four-day hectic parley with all representatives.
Taranco arrived in Dhaka on May 10 ‘at the request’ of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and said he had conveyed ‘strong message’ of Ban to all interlocutors about the urgent need for ‘more meaningful and constructive political dialogue’.
He said he was assigned due to the Bangladesh’s importance to the UN and the Secretary General was a ‘very close friend’ of both major political leaders.
“We don’t have any formula, even we didn’t come to give any formula.....Rather we encourage (all) to seek solutions,” he said adding that Bangladesh’s people had the capacity to find a solution.
“Solutions have to be home-grown,” he insisted even as there is an impasse over the nature of an election-time government between the ruling Awami League and main opposition BNP.
He said time was “running out and everybody knows the consequences if polls were not fair”.
“History of Bangladesh indicates what the consequences could be,” he said indicating that if political parties failed to resolve crisis it would heavily impact the people.
“The first impact would be on the very people of the country and economic opportunity, freedom and aspirations can be compromised,” he said, but expressed his optimism about solutions as he believed “people of Bangladesh deserve rapid solutions”.
He stressed that “the UN would continue to remain engaged”.
According to him, democracy, maintaining stability, and promoting peace and development should be “priority of everyone” in Bangladesh.
Taranco met Prime Minister and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, their advisors and leaders of their parties separately. He also met members of the civil society and media during the second leg of his mission in Bangladesh.
Earlier in December, during his visit to Bangladesh he had stressed on ‘peace and stability’.
He said he had encouraged all parties “to find peaceful ways to resolve their differences and to publicly denounce violence”.
Taranco said he had find commonalities as “everybody recognises government needs to be such that the election can be held in a free, fair, transparent and non-violent manner”.
He would leave Dhaka on Monday night and brief the Secretary General Ban on his return.