The foreign minister has described the BNP Chairperson’s comment on the government as “childish and irresponsible”.
Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali made the remark on Friday when his attention was drawn to the former prime minister’s comment.
The minister was briefing journalists on the upcoming visits of the president and prime minister to the United Arab Emirates.
Khaleda said on Thursday at a rally in Nilphamari that the Awami League-led government was “illegal” and not recognised by any country.
She berated the government after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted Bangladesh’s recent victories in global parliamentary forums and the UN Human Rights Council.
Several newspapers carried reports on both Hasina’s observations and Khaleda’s remarks on the same page.
The foreign minister wondered how the two stories received similar coverage in the media.
He particularly spoke of a newspaper coverage, without naming the paper, in which the two stories were published side-by-side.
“How could that happen,” he asked, “she (Khaleda Zia) is no longer in Parliament?”
The BNP had boycotted the Jan 5 elections that returned the ruling Awami League to power for a second successive term.
“How could we have won these (global) elections if we had not been recognised,” Mahmood Ali asked.
“These are childish, irresponsible acts,”he said.
Bangladesh won an election to become a member of the UN Human Rights Council after a fierce battle amid criticism of the Western countries.
Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury became the chair of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and MP Saber Hossain Chowdhury was elected president of the Inter-parliamentary Union (IPU).
Bangladesh also won a bid to host a global meeting on migration and development in 2016, beating tough competition from Morocco.
The foreign minister said on Thursday evening at bdnews24.com’s eighth anniversary function that those victories did not come easy.
He said on Friday’s press briefing that all countries had voted for Bangladesh’s candidates in a direct and secret ballot.
“If they did not recognise us, how could they have voted us?” he asked.
“It seems she (Khaleda) does not keep track of these developments,” he said.
About the president and the prime minister’s visits, he said President Md Abdul Hamid would visit Dubai from Oct 28 to Oct 30 to attend the 10th World Islamic Economic Forum.
Before him, Hasina will go an official visit to the Gulf kingdom from Oct 25 to Oct 27 at the invitation of her counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The foreign minister will accompany both leaders and will personally attend the fourth ‘High Level Public Private Counter Piracy Conference’ in Dubai from Oct 29 to Oct 30.
Source: Bd news24
