The visiting UN assistant secretary general for political affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has underscored the need for holding the next general election in Bangladesh on the basis of a national consensus. His suggestions came at a meeting with BNP chairperson and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office in the capital on Saturday evening, BNP vice chairman Shamser Mobin Chowdhury told reporters at a press briefing.
Taranco expressed his hope that a free, fair and credible general election would be held in Bangladesh on the basis of a compromise and mutual understanding among all political parties. “All parties will have to find out a way to end the prevailing political crisis,” Mobin quoted him as saying.
BNP chairperson and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia extended her support to the statement of the UN delegation and also expressed her solidarity with it, Mobin added.
“The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also sent letters urging Awami League President Shaikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to reach a consensus for holding an impartial general election,” Mobin said.
“Ban Ki-Moon’s letters to the two leaders were delivered on Saturday asking them to reach a consensus for the sake of holding an impartial general election and ending the country’s prevailing political crisis,” he added.
BNP Standing Committee Member Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain, M Osman Farroque adviser to the party chief Khaleda Zia and others were present during the meeting.
Earlier, some senior leaders of BNP met the UN delegation at a hotel in the capital and briefed it on their position for holding the next general election under a non-party and neutral caretaker government.
They told the UN delegation that their party is always in favour of a political dialogue with the government for the sake of holding an impartial general election. But there is confusion over government’s eagerness to hold dialogue with its political opponents, sources said.
Responding to a question from UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, BNP leaders said the non-party CG system has been introduced on the basis of a national consensus.
The country’s prevailing political crisis will come to an end if the non-party CG provision is restored to its constitution, the BNP leaders told the UN officials. The government is harassing leaders and activists of opposition political parties by implicating them with false and fabricated cares. Several senior leaders of BNP have been sent to jail without justifications, BNP also informed the UN delegation.
BNP standing committee members Abdul Moeen Khan, vice chairman Shamser Mobin Chowdhury, the party chairperson advisers Riaz Rahman and Sabiuddin Ahmed and the opposition chief whip Zainul Abdin Farroque were present during the meeting.
-With The Independent input
