US wants free and fair elections in Bangladesh

Staff Reporter  :
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can talk with US President Joe Biden on New Delhi’s bilateral relations with Dhaka, but Washington has already cleared its desire for free and fair elections in Bangladesh.
“We’d let the Indian government speak for its bilateral relations with Bangladesh. But we have already made clear our desire for free and fair elections in Bangladesh,” National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, said this during a press briefing in Washington DC on Tuesday.

The briefing was held to provide a preview of the upcoming state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his subsequent meeting the President Joe Biden.
One journalist asked Kirby whether regional democratic stability and human rights situation would be discussed during the upcoming visit of the Indian prime minister as democracy and human rights are the key elements of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy.

In reply to it, he said, “It is commonplace and consistent for President Biden to raise concerns over human rights wherever he goes around the world and whatever leaders he’s speaking to. Human rights are a foundational element of this administration’s foreign policy, and you can certainly expect that the President will – as he always does and as you can do with friends and partners like Prime Minister Modi in India – raise our concerns about that.”
Answering another query about the US efforts to ensuring voting rights and restoring democracy in Bangladesh, John Kirby said, “We adapted our visa policy to restrict travel to individuals who undermine Bangladeshi elections.”
The upcoming Biden-Modi meeting has already splashed with news, commentaries and opinions in different media outlets as Biden administration has given special attention to the South Asian domain how the US wants to see its presence in this region in the upcoming days.
John Kirby at the briefing also highlighted how they want to deepen and improve their

defence cooperation with India.
“I don’t want to get ahead of the two leaders – but the issue of defense cooperation and deepening that, bolstering it, strengthening it, expanding it into areas like cyber and space and emerging technologies, all of that will be on the agenda here with the state visit,” he said.
Regarding India’s regional partnership, he said, “India is a sovereign nation and they get to make their own decisions about the partnerships that they explore and the cooperation that they enjoy with other countries.”
According to White House, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official state visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner on 22 June.