The foreign minister highlights the need for other political parties' cooperation to ensure a violence-free election
Published : 13 Aug 2023, 07:30 PM
The foreign minister has ruled out any reconciliation talks with opposition BNP as long as the party sticks to its demand for the government’s resignation before election.
AK Abdul Momen made the ruling Awami League’s position clear during his meeting with two visiting US congressmen on Sunday.
Rich McCormick, the Republican congressman from Georgia’s 6th congressional district, and Ed Case, the Democratic congressman from Hawaii’s 1st congressional district, landed in Dhaka on Saturday on a four-day trip.
In a media briefing after the meeting, Momen said he gave a negative response when the US congressmen asked him if there were any options for any reconciliation talks with the BNP to avoid a political stalemate.
“I told them that first the BNP needs to move away from its own-point demand for the ouster of the government and agree to participate in an election under the current constitutional mandate. Surely, ousting an elected government can’t be on the agendas of serious political talks,” he said.
The minister also reiterated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledge to hold free and fair polls.
“We [Awami League] are a pro-democratic party, and we always seek people’s mandate. We repeatedly assured our external partners that our government and the prime minister are committed to holding a free and fair election,” he said.
The minister highlighted the need for other political parties' cooperation to ensure a violence-free election.
“The government and the Election Commission can try, but they can’t ensure a violence-free election. To ensure it, other political parties must cooperate.”
The two Congressmen will also meet the political leaders of the ruling Awami League and the opposition. They will make a trip to Cox’s Bazar on Monday to visit Rohingya camps.
The congressmen’s visit came at a time when various arms of the US government have been showing plenty of interest in the upcoming Bangladesh general election.
Apart from the Joe Biden administration’s visa restriction policy, six US congressmen recently wrote to the US president to intervene in Bangladesh’s election process.
Fourteen other congressmen and women urged Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, to ensure the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces during the national elections in Bangladesh to ensure free and fair polls.
McCormick and Case were not signatories to the letters.