Visiting UN official Taranco pushes for change in election schedule
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday said it is the Election Commission, not the government that will decide any change in the schedule for the 10th parliamentary election.
The premier made the comment while the visiting UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernández Taranco, requested her to defer the election schedule to ensure an inclusive election. Taranco also stressed the need for creating a level-playing field for all parties, Prime Minister’s International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi said while briefing the media on the Hasina-Taranco meet at Ganabhaban.
The hour-long one-to-one parley between the prime minister and the UN assistant secretary-general began at 4:50pm.
Apart from the meeting with the prime minister, Taranco also met the Leader of the Opposition, Khaleda Zia, a delegation of the ruling Awami League, foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali, Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque, and the US ambassador in Dhaka, Dan Mozena.
Taranco called on Khaleda at the latter’s Gulshan residence around 7:00pm.
After the meeting, BNP Vice-chairman Shamser Mobin Chowdhury told reporters that a wide range of issues were discussed during the meeting, but the issues cannot be disclosed right at this moment. Further discussions will take place among them within a day or two, he said.
However, party insiders said Khaleda made it clear to the UN official that the BNP will not take part in the election keeping Hasina as the head of the poll-time government.
They said Taranco informed Khaleda that the UN wants to see a credible election participated by all major political parties.
After the 2-hour meeting with Khaleda, Taranco held a meeting with other BNP leaders. BNP Standing Committee Member Abdul Moin Khan, BNP chairperson’s advisers Sabihuddin Ahmed and Reaz Rahman, among others, were present at the meet.
Party sources said the UN assistant secretary general was scheduled to hold a separate meeting with BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. But Mirza Fakhrul could not come to Khaleda’s residence as he was implicated in, what BNP leaders termed, ‘false cases’. Taranco left the BNP chairperson’s residence at 9:55pm.
The UN official arrived in Dhaka Friday night leading a delegation that includes a senior UN mediator, two officials from the department of political affairs and a director of the election assistance division. This is his third visit to Bangladesh since December last year. He made the second visit in May this year.
During a meeting with top political leaders of the country, Taranco disclosed the UN position and urged both the ruling and the opposition parties to engage in dialogues, to resolve the ongoing political impasse.
During his meetings with Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque on Saturday, Taranco conveyed the message of UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, stressing the urgent need for dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition, to resolve the political stalemate, said sources.
“The UN assistant secretary-general is trying to get the parties on the table, to ensure inclusive, credible and non-violent elections,” a senior government official said about the meetings.
“Taranco said that with the passage of days, the scope for reaching a compromise is getting limited, and the door for dialogues should be kept open,” said another official, adding that the UN was respectful of the Constitution, and it believed that a solution was possible within the ambit of the Constitution.
Both the officials said Taranco had expressed the UN’s deep concern over the escalating violence in the country. They also said he had no formula or proposal with regard to the solution to the problem over the election-period government.
Following the meetings at the foreign ministry, the UN official held a meeting with an AL delegation, led by party general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, at the Pan-Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, where Taranco was staying. The other members of the delegation were AL advisory council members Tofail Ahmed, Amir Hossain Amu, and Gowher Rizvi, joint general secretary Mahbub -Ul-Alam Hanif, international affairs secretary Faruk Khan, and AL leader Shahed Reza.
Emerging from the meeting, AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters that no specific issue was discussed during the day’s talk, which he described as a primary “dialogue”. “There will be two to four more such meetings and after that things will be much clearer,” he added.
“We’ve been assured that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent Taranco to Bangladesh, on his own initiative. You know that during 1/11, Ban Ki-moon, himself, came here, and that visit was very fruitful. Because of that, elections took place in 2008, and we all participated,” said the AL general secretary.
“We are hopeful that this discussion will also be fruitful,” he said, adding, “You have to be patient. You want the country’s welfare and you want democracy to continue. In this case, we need some space, and they also need some space.”
Asked if the elections would be held on January 5, Tofail Ahmed, who was beside Syed Ashraf, said, “Elections must be held, and will be held.” Moments later, Syed Ashraf echoed Tofail, saying, “It (election) must be held.”
Earlier in the morning, Taranco met some European ambassadors, over breakfast, at the residence of German envoy Albrecht Conze, sources said. EU ambassador William Hanna, British High Commissioner Robert Gibson, Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden and Chinese Ambassador Li Jun were also present.
US Ambassador Dan Mozena also met Taranco at his hotel in the morning, said the sources.
The UN official is due to meet members of the diplomatic community, the chief election commissioner and members of the civil society on Sunday.
-With The Independent input
