Staff Reporter :
In reaction to the UN chief’s letters, the government has said that it wouldn’t sit for talks with the BNP-led 20-party alliance. Contrarily the BNP said that it has not yet received any letter.
Confirming that the UN chief wrote letters to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam on Wednesday reiterated the government’s position that there would be no dialogue with the 20-party alliance. “Yes, we have received the UN chief’s letter. The government won’t sit for talks with killers,” he said while talking to reporters at his office.
On the other hand, BNP Vice-Chairman Begum Selima Rahman told The New Nation that they heard about the letter. BNP did not receive any letter till Wednesday evening. “We will express our reaction after getting the letter,” she said.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has written letters to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia seeking their joint efforts to resolve the ongoing political impasse.
The UN Secretary General’s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq told media that the UN chief sent letters to the chiefs of the two parties, urging them to overcome the crisis through talks. He, however, said there is no plan at this moment for UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to go to Bangladesh.
In 2013, ahead of the one-sided 10th Parliamentary election, the UN chief wrote letters to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia and urged them to sit for talks. He also talked to them over telephone in August 2013. Taranco, however, visited Dhaka and requested the two parties to sit for dialogue to thrash out their differences.
Talking to the reporters, Shahriar Alam said, there are many issues mentioned in the letter to the PM. The UN chief has requested the PM to take necessary steps to restrain the ongoing violence. The UN chief also appreciated the Bangladesh’s contribution to the UN peacekeeping mission, he added.
The state minister also said, the government is taking preparation to give reply to the letter of the UN chief.
He said, “The letter was written about two weeks ago but we got it two days ago. We have already asked the Bangladesh representative in the UN to submit a report about the reason behind the delay”.
He also said that a separate letter had also been written to Khaleda Zia but they don’t know about the content of that letter.
Asked whether the government is under pressure from the international community, Shahriar Alam said, “Not at all”. He said, there is no pressure from the foreign countries and even the new ambassadors from different countries.
