Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen today wondered why Bangladeshi journalists don’t question the US Ambassador on human rights situation and state of democracy in the USA.
In a message sent by the foreign minister’s office to the journalists today, Momen said, “Would you please ask the US Ambassador why they can’t stop extrajudicial killings in their own country?”
The message comes a day after the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas spoke on the US priorities of human rights, democracy and media freedom and said that they want free and fair elections in Bangladesh.
Momen said, each year “nearly 100,000 US citizens go missing” in the country and immigrant children are separated from their parents. “Ask USA about their issues and not about Bangladesh. USA is not obligated to govern and help improve our country.”
The foreign minister further asked, if the US wants press freedom, why did they block RT TV (a Russian channel) from airing?
Momen wondered, if they want accountability, why has there not been any punishment or accountability in the cases of the US security forces who have “killed over a thousand citizens” – mostly African American and Hispanic – each year?
“Why don’t you ask those questions to US Ambassador? If there [read their] election process is fair, then why young Americans don’t have faith in their election process and they hardly vote? Hardly any young Americans vote. Why their vote count is around 25% in each election? Does it represent a participatory election process?”
