United States congressman Steve Chabot has expressed hope that the Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, and the opposition leader, Khaleda Zia, will put the country ahead of their own interests and try to work with each other to reach a reasonable solution regarding the election process. Speaking at a roundtable on Wednesday at the American Centre, Chabot, also chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the House of Representative, urged the ruling and opposition parties to do their best to stop their supporters from committing violence.
The congressman left Dhaka for Washington on Wednesday night after the end of his two-day visit to Bangladesh. While in Dhaka, he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, opposition leader Khaleda Zia, Law Minister Shafique Ahmed, Foreign Mnister Dr Dipu Moni, human rights activists and some leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami.
When asked about his meetings with Hasina and Khaleda, the US lawmaker said, “Both of them are very strong leaders. They are very intelligent people. They know this country very well. I think there is a hope that they would put the country ahead of their own interests and come to some reasonable solution, especially on the election process.”
He said Khaleda had told him that she was willing to meet Hasina to discuss the issues relating to elections. “I did convey this message to her (Hasina),” said Chabot, who met the Prime Minister in the morning.
When asked about the Prime Minister’s response, Chabot said, “I will not reveal what exactly was said. But the proposal was not rejected outright.”
“I hope they both agree to sit across the table. I hope that the two leaders would ultimately talk with each other, either directly or through their representatives, and they will be able to come up with a mechanism to have free, open and fair elections.” he added.
On violence, Chabot said, “I urged both sides to do everything within their power to stop their supporters from committing violence. There is no place for violence even in the year of a general election. There is too much violence in Bangladesh.”
“I think there is some responsibility on the leadership of the major parties to keep their supporters under control. They should let the political workers know that such violence is not to be tolerated,” he added.
He said that none of the parties appeared to be clean with regard to violence.
When asked what he said to Jamaat leaders who are reportedly responsible for violence, Chabot said, “Same thing. No violence. There should be no violence from anybody.”
The Congressman expressed concern over the politics of the country, saying, “There is too much ‘winner takes it all’ attitude. If you are in power, you don’t necessarily reach out or care too much about the other party that’s not in power. I don’t think that’s healthy.”
To a question, he said, “I am not here to say that US assistance is dependent upon free and fair elections. We certainly encourage those good things.”
On war crimes trial, Chabot, who was a lawyer before being coming to Congress, supported such trials, but emphasised that the trials should be fair, open, free and transparent.
“There are certain minimum standards that need to be met. I have concerns that whether those international standards are being met,” he added.
Earlier, according to sources, the Congressman attended a lunch where politicians from Awami League and BNP were also present.
-With The Independent input
