BNP has rejected a statement by Bangladesh envoy to the UN and again said the UN had invited the ruling party and opposition for talks over the country’s political crisis.
AK Abdul Momen on Friday said the UN had not taken any initiative to invite any BNP representatives for a dialogue at the UN headquarters.
Speaking to reporters at BNP’s Nayapaltan head office on Monday, the party’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said the UN had invited the parties during its general assembly but not to the assembly.
Pointing to Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina’s presence in the assembly, he hoped that she would express her opinion there to find out a solution of the crisis.
Fakhrul said: “The UN chief had urged the ruling party and opposition to send two representatives from each side during the UN General Assembly for talks over the political crisis. But the Awami League did not respond.”
He said UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco phoned BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury on September 10 and told him that the AL did not respond to their call.
Speaking at a press briefing at the Bangladesh Mission to the UN in New York on Friday, AK Abdul Momen refuted the BNP’s claim and said the United Nations had not taken any such initiative.
On September 11, BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury claimed that the UN had requested the government and the BNP to send delegations to New York for holding talks this month to find a solution to the current political impasse.
He had said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would mediate the dialogue as part of his efforts to resolve the crisis. Several ministers and ruling Awami League leaders had immediately refuted the claim.
The Daily Star could not independently verify the claim. When it contacted two officials at the UN office in Dhaka, they both said they were unaware of any such initiative from the UN.
The UN chief on August 23 called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and urged them to hold talks for a peaceful resolution of the ongoing political crisis.
After the telephone conversation, BNP leaders told the media that Ban Ki-moon had asked to send two leaders from each party to UN during its 68th session of the general assembly.
Source: The Daily Star
