Staff Reporter :Visiting delegation of European Parliament [EP] has urged the government and opposition political parties to respond to the call of civil society and United Nations for holding a dialogue to end the current political impasse. Christian Dan Preda, head of the delegation and vice chairman of EP subcommittee on Human Rights, made the appeal in a statement sent to the media on Thursday evening. He said, the EP considers the issues of human rights and democracy as essential components for bilateral relations between Bangladesh and European Union.”The main object of the visit was to see the human rights condition in Bangladesh. At the same time, it was also our motto to observe the condition of labour rights, rights of children, women and minorities,” the statement said.The statement said: “We laid particular emphasis on civic and political rights during meetings with different quarters in the wake of ongoing violence due to volatile political situation….The EP delegations has given importance on stopping violence when they met with government and opposition quarters.””At the same time, the EP delegation echoes the proposal which has been given from civil society to end political crisis. The EP also expressed its anxiety on force disappearance and extra judicial killings. Not only that, the freedom of speech is also remaies here as a matter of concern. ….These issues have risen during the meetings,” the statement added.The EP thinks, it is not possible to establish peace and stability by curtailing others civil and political rights. And freedom of speech is the foundation pillar of multi-party democracy.Earlier, the EP expressed grave concern about the human rights situation in Bangladesh, and also showed dissatisfaction over the statement of State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam ran by a section of media. “My clarification is very simple. We’ve come here because we’re very concerned about human rights situation in Bangladesh,” the EP delegation head Preda said in the morning. Preda was taking to the reporters after a meeting with the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission [NHRC] Dr Mizanur Rahman at Moghbazar in the city at about 11:00am yesterday.The media earlier ran reports quoting Shahriar Alam that the EP did not express concern about the human rights situation during their meeting with him on Wednesday. Preda also showed a copy of an English newspaper to the reporters where Shahriar’s statement was printed.NHRC Chairman said the EP delegation has expressed their opinion to stop the ongoing violence during the meeting with him.”The EP expressed severe concern over extra judicial killings. The EU team also expressed anxieties over the mass arrest. They said about 7000 people so far have been arrested in the recent days,” the NHRC chairman said citing EP delegation. The delegation was scheduled to meet a select group of reporters yesterday [Thursday] evening but it was cancelled due to their ‘time constraint’.The six-member delegation of the EP arrived in Dhaka on Monday night and started their four-day visit from Tuesday with three objectives. They have so far held meetings with garment manufacturers, visited factories, held talks with rights bodies and political leaders.The delegation already met with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office on Tuesday.
