The United States government has reiterated its call for the major parties to collaborate with each other to agree on a way forward to ensure free, fair and credible elections in Bangladesh. “We have repeatedly urged the leaders of the major parties in Bangladesh, as you know, to come together and agree on a way forward to ensure free, fair, and credible elections in the coming months,” deputy spokesperson of the US State Department Marie Harf said while replying to a question at a regular briefing in Washington on Friday.
“I think we’ve made that point crystal clear,” she said.
The official also said, “What the way forward looks like is for the parties in Bangladesh to decide.
But obviously, nonviolence is essential to any solution.”
“As we noted earlier in the week, Secretary Kerry has written to the Prime Minister encouraging her to engage in constructive dialogue on a way forward.”
To a question regarding press freedom in Bangladesh and detention of Amar Desh editor Mahmudur Rahman, Harf said, “I don’t know the exact details of the situation you mentioned, but as we do everywhere call on governments to ensure press freedom around the world, certainly detention of journalists is something that we strongly condemn.”
“So we would encourage freedom of the press in Bangladesh and everywhere else, just like we have here in the United States, because it’s important to any free and open society and certainly any democratic society,” she said. On the charges of ‘high treason’ against Mahmudur Rahman, the deputy spokesperson said, “I’m not familiar with the details of this case.”
However, she said, “Clearly, we would oppose persecution of journalists for anything they’ve written or anything they’ve said. But I’ll get some details on this, and I will take it as a question.”
-With The Independent input
