The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (Bnp) seems to be seeking UN mediation to facilitate dialogue for ending the political impasse.
BNP leader and the country’s former planning minister Moeen Khan told ‘Times of India’ in an email interview that the UN ‘being a neutral and multilateral entity would be welcome to faciilitate’ a dialogue between the BNP and the Awami League now locked in a bitter standoff.
This has come a day Awami League minister Tofail Ahmed ruled out a call from the Nagorik Samaj for dialogue with the BNP .Moeen Khan said 10000 BNP activists are in jail on false charges including many senior party leaders. “There is no democratic atmosphere for a dialogue.”
Khan said Bangladesh’s critical geopolitical setting as a link between South and South-east Asia and China makes the crisis in the country ‘ a matter of sufficient concern’ to all big players in the region as well as in Europe and North America.
“It would certainly be in the best interests of the international community to see a quick solution to the present standoff in Bangladesh,” Khan said in the email interview.
Khan pointed to the Awami League when he said : ” In a democratic process , the only mechanism to solve a crisis is to negotiate and talk. If dialogue fails, the next option is further dialogue.”
When asked why his party was resorting to such a violent agitation in which innocents were targetted, Khan said : ” The present spate of violence is the outcome of a long drawn political conflict that resulted from the total absence of democratic norms and values that has led to complete erosion of governance.”
He described the current violence as the ‘symptom of a disease and not the disease itself”.
Khan ruled out his party’s involvement in the violence.
“Most surprisingly, the government has not taken action against a single of the identified culprits. They enjoy the patronage of the ruling party. The violence is meant to defame us,” Khan alleged.
He called on the international community to intervene to ensure a proper democratic atmosphere in Bangladesh, so that Opposition activists are not harassed and intimidated. – Agencies
