Visiting US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Desai Biswal on Monday encouraged a secretary-level dialogue between the country’s two major political parties for finding a way forward for holing a ‘peaceful, free, fair and credible’. “The announcement of an interim cabinet simply underscores the urgency for a dialogue to take place immediately to determine a way forward for peaceful, free, fair and credible election to take place…we’re pushing for dialogue,” she told reporters at a crowded press conference at American Club in the city.
Biswal encouraged the top leaderships of the two parties — Awami League and BNP — to empower secretaries general to hold the crucial dialogue. “I would say what’s most important right now is dialogue.”
Asked about the credibility of the interim government without BNP, she said, “I think fundamentally the question is…credibility will be the Bangladeshi people.
“The international community will be making a determination based on the assessment of the Bangladeshi people. And that’s the bottom line.”
Asked whether the election will be acceptable to the international community without BNP, she replied leaving a question: “Is it going to be acceptable to Bangladeshi people?”
When pressed for her comment on that she said, “It’s not for me to determine.”
Biswal was optimistic of a solution through dialogue and said, “I’m an optimistic person by nature. I’ve the reason to have hope.
We do believe there’s a way forward. We believe that dialogue needs to be happened.”
“We do believe that there’s a way forward, we believe that dialogue needs to be happened,” she said.
-With UNB/The Independent input
