Foreign Minister Dipu Moni, who is also a Joint Secretary of the ruling Awami League, said on Thursday that dialogues between her party and the opposition BNP could be held anywhere, even outside Bangladesh.
“The door for talks is always open. A dialogue can be held anywhere. It can be held in the country. But I don’t see any problem if it is held even outside the country,” she said at a press conference.
She was replying to a query on whether the dialogue could take place during the upcoming UN General Assembly meet, where at least two opposition leaders might be present at the invitation of UN chief Ban ki-Moon.
“We (political leaders) have discussions when we meet each other anywhere,” she said.
The two major parties are at loggerheads over the nature of the administration that will oversee the polls as the ruling Awami League has scrapped the caretaker government provision through the 15th constitutional amendment.
The UN Chief last month phoned both the Prime Minister and the leader of the opposition in his effort to end the standoff through immediate dialogues.
Ban ki-Moon invited leaders of both the Awami League and BNP to the UN assembly when the progress of the current millennium development goals (MDGs) and the formulations of the post MDGs would be discussed.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has decided to join the UN session despite earlier media reports suggested that she would not attend due to her political engagements in the country.
Opposition BNP, citing the media reports, said the PM abandoned her tour fearing uncomfortable questions from the international community.
The Foreign Minister said the Prime Minister initially decided not to attend due to her engagement with grassroots leaders, but Bangladesh permanent mission at the UN requested her to attend, as “world leaders want to hear from her about Bangladesh’s success stories in achieving some millennium development goals”.
Bangladesh would also participate in the discussions on devising the post-2015 sustainable development goals, she said.
She, however, reiterated that the election would be held as per the provision of the amended Constitution. “But we always welcome talks for setting up modalities of the government based on the Constitution,” she said.
“The door was always open for talks on the modalities of the election-time government following the constitutional amendment.”
As both parties were rigid on their positions, the US Secretary of State John Kerry also wrote to the two top leaders, urging them to hold dialogues for the sake of free, fair and credible elections.
Dipu Moni termed the ‘friendly’ country’s letters ‘positive’.
She, however, said there should be no doubts about the holding of the next general elections, as Bangladesh’s democratic institutions were strong enough to hold free, fair and credible elections.
“We want to assure everyone that we have strong democratic institutions; so there is no uncertainty over the holding of a free, fair and credible election,” she said and hoped that all parties would take part in the poll.
Source: Bd news24
