bdnews24.com :The United Nations says it has no information of a possible visit to Dhaka by its Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco.”I have no information on Fernandez-Taranco’s visit,” the UN secretary general’s spokesperson Farhan Haq told the press on Saturday.The UN along with the US had called for probing allegations of ‘widespread rigging’ raised by the BNP against the ruling Awami League during April 28 city corporation polls.Mayor candidates endorsed by the Awami League won the elections in the three cities- Dhaka North, South and Chittagong. Most of the councillors, who have been elected, were backed by the ruling party also.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon spoke with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after the polls and told her that he had tasked Fernandez-Taranco to kick-start a discussion between the political parties.Reports of a possible Dhaka visit of the Fernandez-Taranco, the UN Assistant Secretary General for Peacebuilding Support, began to do the rounds in the local media after that.Asked whether Fernandez-Taranco has spoke with Bangladesh political parties, Haq said on Saturday, “I have nothing to announce on that matter. We will let you know if there’s any development.”Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative to the UN, however, said that the assistant secretary general was keen to visit Dhaka.”I spoke with Oscar Fernandez-Taranco last week, when he had expressed his interest to visit Dhaka. I told him that the general election is not due in three and half years; any need to discuss on that can happen after two and half years. There is no problem in Bangladesh right now,” Permanent Representative to the UN AKA Momen the news agency.According to him, Fernandez-Taranco ‘made the UN secretary general to call Dhaka’ as he was ‘not satisfied’ speaking with him.Momen, however, said that the UN’s stance on the city polls have ‘changed’ after getting the ‘correct facts’ on it.The UN assistant secretary-general had visited Dhaka twice in 2013 amid the political upheaval in the rundown to the parliament elections.He had then tried to mediate talks between the government and the BNP-led alliance, which was organising a movement for elections under a caretaker regime.But his initiative for dialogue had failed.The Awami League came to the power for the second consecutive term after the Jan 2014 elections that was boycotted by the BNP.Fernandez-Taranco again hit the headlines following large-scale violence during the blockade called by BNP chief Khaleda Zia on the first anniversary of Jan 5 elections.The spokesperson for the secretary general at that time had said that Fernandez-Taranco was asked to mediate between the two sides.
