International community takes stance on next JS polls
The international community appears resolved not to send observers to monitor the next general election in Bangladesh unless the polls are to be inclusive and there is consensus about the election-time government. Foreign countries are annoyed and concerned over the political stalemate in Bangladesh and will not send polls observers to endorse any election without the participation of the major political parties, diplomatic sources in Dhaka have told The Daily Star.
“We’ll definitely take a tough position for the sake of a free, fair, credible and participatory election,” said a diplomat seeking anonymity.
Foreign nations do not wish to see any more uncertainty and street violence in Bangladesh that may hamper democracy and development, and cause sufferings to common people, according to some diplomats.
The United Nations, influential countries and donor agencies are unanimous in their view that the ruling and the opposition parties must engage in dialogue to resolve the crisis over an election-time government, they observed.
“As friends of Bangladesh, foreign countries and development partners want advancement of the country, but this time they might go for harsh decisions if their appeal goes unheeded by the political quarters,” said a diplomat from an influential Asian country.
Several countries and agencies have already sent smaller but important teams to Bangladesh to get first-hand information about the pre-election situation.
A five-member European Union Election Exploratory Mission is already in Dhaka on a fortnight-long visit to assess the feasibility of sending an Election Observation Mission for the next general election.
Foreign missions in Dhaka, said diplomats, are regularly sending reports to their respective headquarters about the pre-election atmosphere in Bangladesh, in which most of them expressed apprehension about a severe crisis ahead of the parliamentary polls.
A European diplomat, who asked not to be named, told this correspondent that his mission had received clear instructions from headquarters to convey to Dhaka the message that any unusual situation in Bangladesh was unwelcome, as they were accountable to their people, whose tax money constitutes the aid that comes here.
Recently, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself talked to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia and urged them to enter into a dialogue to resolve the political crisis in order to ensure a free, fair, credible and participatory election.
Earlier in December last year and May this year, Ban Ki-moon sent Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, assistant secretary general for political affairs at the UN, to Dhaka apparently to create the ground for a dialogue between the two major parties for a smooth transfer of power.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday wrote to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia urging the two leaders to engage in a constructive dialogue to find a way forward for a free, fair and credible election.
China, which hardly makes any political statement on the internal issues of another country, has also called on the two major political parties to open a dialogue to build confidence between them and resolve the current political standoff.
-With The Daily Star input
