Staff Reporter :United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has informed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that Fernandez-Taranco has been assigned to hold talks with the political parties in the backdrop of allegations of irregularities and subsequent boycotting of city polls by opposition candidates.Ban Ki-moon conveyed the message to Hasina during a tele-conversation on Friday at 1:48pm which continued for 14 minutes. Not only that, the UN Secretary-General also called for probe into allegations of polls violence.”The Secretary General reiterated his call on all political leaders to find a peaceful resolution to the current situation. The Secretary-General is aware of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s decision to boycott the Dhaka and Chittagong elections amid allegations of electoral fraud,” UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq said in a recent Press briefing.”The UN Chief encourages the competent authorities to investigate all allegations and called upon the opposition to use the democratic institutions to express its concerns,” he said.”He appeals to all parties to express their differences through peaceful means. The Secretary General reiterates his call on all political leaders to find a peaceful resolution to the current situation,” he noted.Earlier, during the conversation with Hasina, the UN Chief highly praised her government for its continued and tireless efforts in consolidating democracy of Bangladesh. Besides, he congratulated Hasina government for achieving socio-economic development, millennium development goal and the role of Bangladesh in UN peacekeeping mission.”Ban Ki-moon strongly criticised subversive activities and terrorism. He further said there is no room for such activities in the democracy,” Prime Minister’s Press Secretary AKM Shameem Chowdhuri told The New Nation on Saturday.”BNP’s participation in the polls was a relief, but its boycott of the polls midway was unfortunate,” he was quoted as saying.The UN Chief also expressed dissatisfaction over the recent city corporation elections. ‘He was told that there were some irregularities in the corporation elections,’ the PM’s Press Secretary said.On the other hand, Sheikh Hasina requested Ban Ki-moon to tell BNP to shun the path of terrorism and militancy and return to politics. Taranco, the UN Assistant Secretary General had visited Dhaka twice in 2013 following political unrest centering the parliamentary elections, and tried to mediate talks between government and BNP-led alliance. But his initiative for dialogue had failed.He again visited Dhaka in the wake of large-scale violence during the blockade called by BNP Chief Khaleda Zia on the first anniversary of Jan 5 elections. It was told by the UN at that time that Taranco had been asked to mediate between the two political camps.According to the Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Sheikh Hasina told Ban Ki-moon that BNP has unleashed a reign of terror throughout the country in the last three months since January 5.”During the telephonic conversation the Prime Minister told the UN Secretary General that by hurling petrol bombs and cocktails and launching arson attack BNP killed many innocent people,” Shameem Chowdhury said. Referring to recent city corporation polls held in Dhaka and Chittagong, the Prime Minister said common voters participated spontaneously in the polls and law enforcers played a very strong role in holding the election in a peaceful manner.”Not a single casualty was happened in the polls which was rare in the history of Bangladesh in the past,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying.As a result, on average over 44 percent voters exercised their franchise and the number of votes cast was not abnormal, Hasina said adding that there is no scope to raise any question over the fairness of voting.In this connection, the Prime Minister mentioned that the Election Commission announced the results discarding 5 percent of the votes over which there were some allegations.Referring to the skipping of BNP from the polls on the election day, Sheikh Hasina said their aim was to make the polls questionable.Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also said the people of the country never liked BNP for petrol bomb attacks, and for destroying public and private properties.”That is why, BNP boycotted the city corporation polls in just three hours after voting had begun as its leadership realized that the sentiments of the voters were not in their favour,” the Prime Minister was quoted as saying.Hasina told the UN Chief that people spontaneously came out to vote in the recently held city polls and that law-enforcing agencies firmly maintained law and order.”Pointing out that there was 44 percent voter turnout, which was not unusual, the Prime Minister told Ban Ki-moon that there was no scope to point finger at the elections,” Shameem Chowdhury further said.
