Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has told diplomats that the Opposition has resorted to a 'blame-game' instead of responding to the Prime Minister’s call for a dialogue.
Published : 30 Oct 2013, 06:29 PM
“The Prime Minister has shown time and again that, in the interest of durable peace and democracy, she is ready to make concessions,” she told members of the diplomatic corps on Wednesday.
The briefing was against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s phone call to the Leader of the Opposition for a dialogue over dinner and Khaleda Zia’s refusal to agree.
Before her briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a short video was presented showing the Prime Minister making the phone call and the violence during the 60-hour shutdown enforced by the Opposition coalition.
The foreign minister tried to dispel confusion created by Khaleda Zia's allegations that the government had now become 'illegal'.
She told the envoys that once the election schedule was announced, “The entire executive machinery would be at the disposal of the Election Commission in conformity with Article 126 of the Constitution.”
She asked them to “continue to show a balanced understanding” over the unfolding political situation and send election observers to ensure transparency and accountability of the poll process.
The foreign minister began by saying that Bangladesh’s overall political situation was “now poised at a critical juncture”.
The Prime Minister’s Adviser, HT Imam, was also present at the briefing where Heads and Charge D’affaires of all diplomatic missions in Bangladesh, Head of EU delegation and UN Resident Coordinator joined.
Moni said she felt the need to brief them and clarify government’s position on the recent issues as “the entire atmosphere is rife with all kinds of pronouncements and speculations”.
She said deliberate attempts were being made to sow confusion over the government’s legality since October 27.
“The relevant Constitutional provisions should leave no scope for unhealthy debate or misrepresentation of facts here on this issue,” she said citing articles 57 and 58 of the Constitution.
“These clear-cut Constitutional provisions should leave no room for doubt that the Prime Minister and all members of her Cabinet can continue to remain in Office till such time that their successors have assumed office.
“This constitutional safeguard is there to ensure a seamless transition of power between two democratically elected governments,” she said in a written speech.
“This is similar to most parliamentary democracies around the world, including commonwealth countries,” she said.
She said the Prime Minister made her ‘open offer’ for a dialogue to the main opposition party to discuss the possible shape and modalities of the pre-election interim government.
It was ‘repeatedly’ made clear that “the door for dialogue always stayed open, and that we remained ready to engage with the opposition,” she told the diplomats.
She said the Prime Minister had phoned the Leader of the Opposition, Khaleda Zia, within the 48-hour deadline she had set for initiating a talks process, but the “unfortunate” shutdown remained in force.
She added “….and we have all been witness to the mindless, sporadic violence in different parts of the country that took away as many as 11 valuable lives in three days”.
She said the Prime Minister’s dialogue initiative was still open, and that her efforts at forging a consensus on the all-party interim government was “gathering a steady momentum” due to the actions of the opposition parties, including the snubbing of the dialogue offer and the enforcing of the shutdown.
She said when the nation was awaiting an official response from the leader of the opposition, “she came up with her counter-proposal which - without being judgmental about it - steered far off the mark from the Constitutional framework by any standards”.
On the most part, she said, “the proposal signaled their lack of interest in recalibrating their stand in the possible direction of a compromise”.
“Even as a negotiating stance, this stood out in sharp contrast to the huge concessions that our Prime Minister had made in her proposal on the All-Party interim Government”.
She said her government had made ‘unremitting efforts’ to impress upon the opposition that, in the interest of the supreme law, there must be an election-time arrangement with elected representatives instead of unelected persons “to prevent a repetition of the so-called 1/11 and a two-year unelected care-taker government”.
“It, however, soon became apparent that all our reasoning was of little avail with our Opposition colleagues,” she said.
But as a responsible government, she said, “we remained open and flexible” on issues like the structure of the interim government and left the final details “to a much intended dialogue”.
She said the opposition staged a shutdown “under the false and misleading and rather habitual allegations and pretext of the alleged illegality of the government” and created a highly tensed situation.
She said the Constitution was very ‘straightforward’.
This parliament would automatically dissolve on Jan 24 when it completed its five-year term.
The general elections must be held any day during the 90 day period within the cut-off date of January 24.
“There has been no reason to think that there should be any deviation from this Constitutional obligation, since we remain committed to extend all necessary cooperation to the independent National Election Commission in the conduct of free, fair and credible elections”.
She said there was “hardly any scope” to rig the election results under the “increasingly assertive media and a vibrant social media scene dominated by our vigilant and politically conscious young citizenry”.
She told diplomats that the “independent and empowered” Election Commission should be in a position to hold elections within 40 to 45 days of the announcement of the election schedule as was done in the past.
The foreign minister also briefed the diplomats about the Election Commission’s preparations. Quoting the Chief Election Commissioner she said “they are also preparing the grounds for announcing the election schedule soon”.
She assured the diplomatic community that her government remained committed “to ensuring that the sanctity of the constitution is upheld” and people’s democratic rights were “duly protected and nurtured”.
She, however, reminded them about maintaining diplomatic norms while expressing concerns about Bangladesh’s political situation.