UN officials will keep an eye on Bangladesh’s politics: Fakhrul

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir says they have drawn the UN’s attention to the state of Bangladesh’s politics ahead of the general elections.

He faced the media after a meeting of the party’s policymaking body National Standing Committee at Gulshan in Dhaka on Monday following his trip to the US and the UK.

“We’ve stated the current condition of Bangladesh’s politics to the UN. We answered some questions they asked about the issue,” Mirza Fakhrul said.

The BNP alleges democracy is absent in Bangladesh during the rule of the Awami League and that the government had ‘wrongly’ jailed party chief Khaleda Zia.

Asked how the UN responded, Mirza Fakhrul said, “We’ve discussed everything. They said they would look into the issues.”

On the meeting with their acting chief Tarique Rahman in London, the BNP secretary general said they discussed Bangladesh issues.

Mirza Fakhrul along with Executive Committee member Md Tabith Awal left Dhaka for New York on Sept 12.

The party’s Assistant International Affairs Secretary Humayun Kabir flew to New York from London to join them.

They met Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Miroslav Jenča at the UN headquarters amid a row with the ruling Awami League ahead of the general elections.

They also sat with officials at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs of the US State Department in Washington the next day.

During the discussions, the BNP leaders brought allegations of oppression against the ruling Awami League.

Release of Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is now in jail on corruption charges, also came up for discussion.

Mirza Fakhrul started for London on Friday and met Tarique there before flying back home.

The BNP reportedly had hired a US lobbyist firm for arranging the meetings, though the party claims Mirza Fakhrul travelled there at the invitation of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The Awami League alleges the BNP has soiled Bangladesh’s image by ‘exhibiting its political bankruptcy through whining’.

Ruling party leaders have asked about the source of the money with which the lobbyist firm was reportedly hired.

Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader also alleged Mirza Fakhrul’s claim of getting Guterres’ invitation was ‘a lie’.

“It’s clear that I went to the UN at the invitation of its secretary-general. But he (Guterres) had left to attend the funeral of Kofi Annan (former UN chief). So we met the assistant secretary-general who was in charge of the UN at the time,” Mirza Fakhrul said in reaction to Quader’s comments.

“It is clearly stated in the UN charter that anyone of the government, opposition, political parties, organisations or any individual can raise their issues,” he pointed out.