Visiting two US Congressmen held a joint meeting with the leaders of three major political parties – ruling Bangladesh Awami League, main opposition in the parliament Jatiya Party and another major opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in Dhaka on Sunday.
The meeting was held at the residence of the US ambassador in Dhaka Peter D. Haas in the capital’s Gulshan. The one-and-a-half-hour meeting began at 4:00 pm.
Sources said Awami League finance and planning secretary Waseqa Ayesha Khan, MP, Nahim Razzaq, MP, and Tamanna Nusrat Bubly, MP, represented the party in the meeting while the BNP’s delegation consisted of the party’s publicity secretary and former lawmaker Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie and the JaPa delegation consisted of MPs Sharifa Quader, Rana Mohammad Sohail and Nazma Akther. US Congressmen Rich McCormick of Georgia and Ed Case of Hawaii and the US ambassador Peter Haas were present at the meeting.
Sources present at the meeting said BNP’s Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Annie presented their party’s stance mentioning that BNP would not join the upcoming national polls without a caretaker government.
On the other hand, at the meeting, Awami League delegation outright rejected the BNP’s statement as saying that the caretaker government system is contradictory to the Constitutional of the state and for what the Supreme Court earlier rejected it.
Sources said Congressman Ed Case told the AL delegation that not only to your country the election has to be deemed as free, fair and acceptable to the whole world. In response, AL leaders invited them as polls monitor. At the same time, they informed the US delegation about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s pledge to hold a free, fair and acceptable parliament election.
In the discussion, the two Congress members highlighted the issues regarding importance of Bangladesh to the US. One of the reasons is Bangladesh’s geographical location in the Indo-Pacific region and its population number. The US wants Bangladesh to maintain democratic environment especially when this is declining around the globe.
A member of the ruling party’s delegation told the US delegation that the government has empowered the election commission by enacting a law.
He further said another law will be tabled in the coming session of parliament. The law will be about ensuring punishment for creating chaos during balloting or hampering the process.
Jatiya Party’s Sharifa Quader said that they told the US delegation what the party has been saying for a long time – about the necessity of a free, fair and peaceful election and it must be ensured that all parties participate in it.
