DHAKA: The United States will continue discussion with the incumbent government of Bangladesh over extrajudicial killings, political violence and freedom of the press.

The US Department of State official made the assertion on Monday.

Deputy spokesperson Marie Harf came up with the remarks in response to questions on Bangladesh while speaking in a daily press briefing at Washington DC.

She said, “...we support freedom of expression, freedom of the media everywhere, including in Bangladesh, and it’s an issue we talk about all the time with the government, also with the opposition and also with civil society leaders, because everybody has responsibilities here.”

Marie added: “And where we see freedom of the press in jeopardy, we obviously speak out against it. So we’ve been very clear about our views on freedom of the press, also about violence anywhere.”

She said, “I know we talked about it a lot around the elections, but very clear about our concerns about violence, and we’ll continue raising these issues with the government”.

Replying to another question over fresh election, Harf said, “we want the tensions to ease” between the major opposition and the government of Bangladesh.

The spokesperson, however, could not disclose anything on the possibility of holding dialogue on election issues as saying, “Let me check with our folks. I’m not sure, quite frankly, what the details are.”

BDST: 1451 HRS MAY 06, 2014