DHAKA: Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali alleged that BNP and Jamaat are opposing country’s democratic process as they are creating anarchy ahead of ensuing parliament elections.

“As a responsible government, we cannot relinquish our responsibilities and allow the fundamental values and principles of our statehood to be undermined by the indiscriminate terrorist acts perpetrated by the BNP and Jamaat-Shibir to deprive our people from exercising their democratic right to vote during the forthcoming 10th Parliamentary elections scheduled for January 2014,” he said.

The minister came up with the observation while talking to EU Ambassadors and diplomats as part of his briefing to Heads of Diplomatic Missions in Dhaka on Monday.

On the event of December 29, the Foreign Minister pointed out the contradiction that BNP chief Khaleda Zia was flying the national flag on her vehicle that she was using for her March for Democracy, while she termed the current government and the existing constitutional dispensation as ‘illegal’.

The said to EU diplomats that though the opposition was agitating in the name of democracy, they had never engaged in any serious preparation for elections at the ground level, and thus was not ready to participate in the upcoming elections.

He said it has proved that the BNP and 18-party alliance never negotiated in good faith for participating in the elections as they were always insisting on certain pre-conditions.

The session was attended by the Ambassadors, High Commissioner and CDAs of the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Denmark while Adviser to the Prime Minister for International Affairs Dr. Gowher Rizvi and Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque were also present.

The minister categorically assured the EU diplomats that the all-party-election-time government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would leave no stone unturned to  ensure full safety and security of the Diplomatic Missions in Bangladesh as well as their residences, schools and cultural centers  stationed in Bangladesh as per the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961.  

He also apprised the Heads of Missions as they enhanced security measures in the designated diplomatic areas in Gulshan, Baridhara and part of Banani.

EU diplomats appreciated government’s concern for their safety and the additional measures taken so far.

BDST: 1935 HRS, DEC 30, 2013
Edited by: Golam Rosul, Newsroom Editor/M. Mahbub Alam, Asst Output Editor