The US Secretary of State John Kerry has written to Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia urging them to a dialogue to end the current deadlock over the poll-time administration.
His letters come barely two weeks after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the two leaders of major political alliances to find a way out of the impasse over the forthcoming parliamentary election.
Kelly McCarthy, Press & Information Officer of the US embassy, told journalists that in the letters sent to two top leaders the Secretary of State “encouraged them to engage in constructive dialogue to find a way forward towards free, fair and credible elections”.
The US ambassdor has delivered both the letters , sources in the US embassy said.
BNP Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said US ambassador Dan Mozena delivered the letter to the BNP chief’s Gulshan office on Sunday.
The ambassador has also been to the Prime Minister’s Office, but ruling Awami League is yet to confirm receipt.
The two major parties are at loggerheads over the nature of the next poll-time administration after the ruling Awami League scrapped the caretaker government provision through the 15th Constitutional Amendment.
Awami League says the poll time administration would comprise elected representatives of all parties with Hasina at the helm while BNP is demanding non-partisan caretaker administration that have supervised previous polls since the late 1990s.
Hasina told the UN chief during August 23 phone call that she plans to hold the polls in keeping with the Constitution, under government supervision.
But she hinted opposition would be welcome to offer a proposal for discussion in the Parliament.
Khaleda Zia has said she was ready for a dialogue to overcome the crisis but made it clear the opposition would not go to polls if that was supervised by the Awami League-led government.
The US ambassador Dan Mozena described the UN Secretary General’s phone calls as ‘a positive development’.
The US and European countries have been calling for dialogue between two parties for a while to break the impasse.
Even Chinese envoy Li Jun joined them in their rare move last month saying he was trying to encourage face-to-face talks between the two rival parties as he believed stability was needed for a developing country like Bangladesh to develop.
Earlier the UN Secretary General sent his envoy to Dhaka in May with a message for meaningful and constructive dialogue to break the impasse.
Oscar Fernandez- Taranco, UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, after meeting with all interlocutors in Dhaka said: “Quicker the dialogue starts, the easier it’ll be to find solutions”.
The BNP leader Shamsher Mobin on Monday told journalists that in the letter the US Secretary of State expressed his concern over the political crisis in the country ahead of the polls.
“Kerry also stressed on reaching an understanding through talks without any further delay as important for an acceptable elections with all parties participating,” he said.
The Awami League is yet to formally react to Kerry’s letter.- bdnews24.com
