The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) spokesperson Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said that the United Nations’ (UN) initiative for a dialogue between the country’s two major political parties to overcome the crisis of poll-time administration had failed due to the government’s unwillingness.
The BNP leader said that the government would be held responsible for any untoward incident taking place in the country after October 24 over the non-party caretaker government (CG) issue.
Alamgir was talking to reporters at the party’s Naya Paltan central office after AK Abdul Momen, Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the UN, said that there had been no initiative by the UN for a dialogue between the country’s two major political parties.On August 23, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, spoke to Sheikh Hasina and her arch rival Khaleda Zia over phone and urged them to sit for talks for a free and fair parliamentary poll.Ki-moon had offered to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with two representatives from AL and BNP to resolve the ongoing political crisis, Alamgir said.“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina responded positively to the offer, while our party chief Khaleda Zia also did the same. But UN assistant secretary general Oscar Fernandez Taranco told our party vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury on September 10 that the AL didn’t respond positively to the proposal,” he added.
The UN boss’s efforts for a dialogue to overcome the stalemate had become unsuccessful due to the lack of eagerness and positive attitude on the part of the ruling party, he alleged.
Addressing a press briefing on Friday at the Bangladesh Mission to the UN in New York, Momen refuted BNP’s claim that the party had been invited to the UN headquarters to discuss Bangladesh’s ongoing political crisis.
Rejecting Momen’s statement, Alamgir said that the UN representative had misled the country by concealing the truth from the nation.
“We are still hopeful that good sense will prevail on the government and it will place a bill over the CG issue during the current session of the ninth Parliament,” he said.
Otherwise, the government would be held responsible if any politics of confrontation takes place after October 24, he added, sounding a note of caution.
About the PM’s scheduled participation in the UN General Assembly meeting, Alamgir said Hasina would hopefully sit for talks with Ban Ki-moon there. “We are hopeful that the PM will talk about the country’s current political situation with Ban K-moon and take constructive initiatives to resolve the crisis through immediate dialogue,” he added.
Alamgir also expressed hope that the PM’s meeting with her Indian counterpart Dr Manmohan Singh would get priority in the country’s national interest.
The BNP leader also alleged that the Election Commission (EC) was not working neutrally.
The EC has been engaged in a conspiracy since the previous 1/11 changeover to create a split in BNP by giving registration to a baseless organisation called BNF as a political party, Alamgir complained. “The EC is totally worthless and no fair election is possible under its supervision,” he said.
-With The Independent input
