The United States has urged the bickering BNP and Awami League to get negotiations going to end political unrest that has pulverised Bangladesh in recent days.
The US embassy in Dhaka in a statement on Tuesday also expressed deep concern over the escalating political tensions.
The BNP-led Opposition has abandoned electoral politics to take their fight against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to the streets.
The statement was issued after US envoy Dan Mozena held several meetings at the Secretariat in the backdrop of the Opposition’s nationwide blockade.
Mozena has also suggested the Bangladeshi politicians to fully use the upcoming visit of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to reach an agreement.
Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad has also urged the Awami League and BNP to strike a settlement soon as many organisations held programmes in the capital protesting deaths in recent violence.
The BNP and its allies are calling tougher agitations like general strikes and blockades to push for a non-party polls-time government.
Nearly 40 people have been killed in the recent violence during the Opposition programmes across Bangladesh. Many are undergoing treatment at hospitals with severe burn injuries sustained from arson attacks.
The Awami League recently constituted ‘all-party’ interim cabinet, which the BNP has rejected to join.
Candidates of total 15 political parties including Awami League and Jatiya Party have also submitted nomination papers.
But in a surprise development, Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad earlier on Tuesday announced that his party will not contest the Jan 5 elections as a ‘proper environment’ did not exist for the polls.His decision seemed to have put the ruling party in a tight spot.
However, Awami League leaders have been hinting that a dialogue might take place soon, but the BNP’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir rejected any possibility of talks with the government on Tuesday afternoon.
He directed the party supporters to be on the streets until non-party polls-time government demand was met. Only a day before, Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia had urged the government to reach an agreement.
Political analysts are fearing a violent feud between the rival parties over the general election, similar to the one they had in 2006-7.
The CEC and foreign diplomats burst onto the scene with the call to strike a deal to end the deadlock.
Mentioning the constitutional obligations to hold the polls by Jan 24, Rakibuddin Ahmad on Tuesday said, “Time for reaching an agreement is slipping away. Time is very short.”
He had already hinted at changes to the election roadmap if the two major parties were to reach an agreement.
The US embassy in its statement said that it was “more urgent than ever” for both major parties to assign their “trusted lieutenants” to undertake constructive dialogue to try for a breakthrough.
“We believe that with goodwill, the two parties can still find a way to have free, fair and credible elections that the Bangladeshi people want and deserve,” it said hoping the parties would find their goodwill to come forth.
Besides the US, Canadian High Commissioner in Dhaka Heather Cruden in another statement also said it was still possible to find a “negotiated solution”.
“….if there was political will, to ensure that the upcoming general election is transparent, inclusive, credible and peaceful,” he added.
However, the government has taken a stern position to put a stop to the violence. Several top Opposition leaders were arrested and sued in several violence related cases.
The US slammed the political violence, reiterating that “violence is not acceptable and must stop immediately”.
“The senseless violence of past days is especially reprehensible as it intentionally targeted innocent people with bombs and by burning them alive in vehicles.”
“We believe all parties should have space to freely and peacefully express their views.
“The government bears responsibility to provide such space; the opposition parties bear responsibility to use such space in a peaceful manner,” read the US statement.
Mozena at the Secretariat
Ambassador Mozena spent a busy day at the Secretariat on Tuesday. He also met several ministers there.
After meeting Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu, he told reporters that Bangladeshi politicians can see UN envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco’s imminent visit as a ‘great opportunity’ to end current crisis.
The country may progress further through a meaningful election by using this opportunity, he added.bdnews24.com’s New York Correspondent reported that the United Nations also confirmed that Fernandez-Taranco will arrive in Dhaka on Dec 7, nearly seven months after his first effort to mediate talks between the two major parties.
The UN Secretary-General’s Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq told bdnews24.com that Fernandez-Taranco’s four-day visit is to encourage dialogue and conditions conducive for the parliamentary elections.
He will also meet with representatives from the government, Opposition, Parliament, civil society and the international community.
The senior United Nations political official first visited Dhaka from May 10 to May 13 and pitched for an immediate dialogue among political parties.
But the crisis is yet to end even after Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia had a 37-minute-long conversation over phone.
However, three days before Fernandez-Taranco hits ground in Dhaka, Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh will arrive on Wednesday on her first visit.
She will meet Hasina, Khaleda and Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad during her two-day visit.
Earlier in the day, minister Inu had told reporters that the government thought Khaleda should contest the polls, even after the BNP and its allies did not file the nominations within the deadline.
“There is still some time; a meaningful dialogue may take place any time.”
Addressing the BNP Chairperson recently, the Information Minister had said that she would ‘miss the train’ if she did not run for Parliament.
Dan Mozena said it was “very important” for the ruling party to hold a dialogue and conduct a free and fair polls before the government’s tenure ends on Jan 24.
Besides attending the signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on narcotics control between Bangladesh and US, he also met Housing and Public Works Minister Tofail Ahmed and Environment and Forests Minister Hasan Mahmud.
After meeting Mozena, Tofail told reporters that the US envoy had hoped to see an election contested by all political parties.
Amid the concerns and calls of diplomats, a protest programme took place at the capital’s Shahbagh where the protesters expressed frustrations with the two major parties.
Poets, artists, students, teachers and relatives of the people who suffered burn injuries during the Opposition’s countrywide blockade took part in the protest. Leftist political parties also expressed solidarity with the protesters.
The ruling party and the main opposition have blamed each other for the deaths in the arson attacks. The BNP spokesperson recently also claimed that the government’s ‘agents’ were behind these attacks.
The designer of Bangladesh’s national flag, Shib Narayan Das and singer Kafil Ahmed had also attended the protest programme at Shahbagh.
“We, the masses, are burning. Our present and future are trapped in a terrible cage,” Ahmed said seeking a way out of the chaos.
Source: Bd news24