The United States on Sunday called upon both the government and opposition to reach an agreement to stop political violence. US Ambassador to Bangladesh Dan W Mozena expressed the desire of his government during a meeting with opposition leader Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office “The US doesn’t want to see any political violence in Bangladesh. We think political violence should be stopped first; then dialogue should be held among the major political parties. I came to call on the opposition leader to discuss the matters,” Mozena told reporters after the meeting.
Latest development in the political arena, prevailing situation, next elections, dialogue and the issue of Savar building collapse came up for discussion during the hour-long meeting,
The US Ambassador said he held the meeting with the opposition leader as part of his initiative to communicate with major political parties. Earlier, he held similar meetings with General Secretary of ruling Awami League and Minister for Local Government Syed Ashraful Islam and chairman of Jatiya Party HM Ershad.
“The US government believes that the democratic process in Bangladesh will continue. My government doesn’t expect that incident of any political violence takes place in Bangladesh,” he said.
Briefing reporters, BNP standing committee member Abdul Moeen Khan said the opposition leader told the US Ambassador that the government has to take initiatives role to maintain peace in the country.
He quoted Khaleda as saying, “Peace cannot be restored if the government resorted repression on opposition leaders and activists. The government repression on opposition won’t create an environment for a dialogue”
Khan said the Khaleda Zia also made it clear that the prevailing political violence was the result of failure of the government to run the country.
He said Dan Mozena termed the Savar building collapse incident as a “horrible tragedy” that left many people dead and informed the opposition leader that his government expressed deep shock at the tragic incident.
The BNP leader said Dan Mozena informed the opposition leader that the US government supports a political dialogue expressing his hope that the major political parties would be able to find out a peaceful solution across the table.
He said, Mozena emphasised the need for stopping political violence to create the base of dialogue and political parties should be allowed to express their opinion freely.
Moen Khan said the opposition leader told the US Ambassador that the government has to take the initiative for the dialogue and an environment has to be created before it.
-With The Independent input
