‘Foreigners think they are kings of our country’

Staff Reporter  :
Foreign Minister Dr. A.K. Abdul Momen has said the foreigners intervene in the internal affairs of Bangladesh as they consider themselves as monarch here.

“The foreigners enjoy pleasures in meddling in our internal affairs because their comments get exaggerated coverage in the media. They consider themselves monarch of the country,” he said in reply to a query of the journalists after an event at the Sylhet Shilpakala Academy on Friday.

The Foreign Minister stated that recently 40 people died in Panchayat elections in West Bengal, but no country commented on it.

“Whenever Bangladesh does anything, foreigners start to raise objections. It is an intervention in internal affairs and not in line with the principles of the Geneva Convention. Diplomats around the world do not criticise other countries in groups,” he said.

The minister also urged the media to boycott the comments of the foreigners against the internal affairs of the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry also hit the foreign missions in Dhaka for issuing a joint-statement censuring the attack on the independent candidate for the Dhaka-17 by-election Hero Alom.

At that time Momen said that the foreigners consider Bangladesh as a land of Mogs.

“I don’t know about it (statement). But I want to say one thing – when people are killed in New York, do they (western embassies) ever issue a statement? Has the United States ever asked why people are killed in the United States,” Momen said in response to a question at the Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

Pointing to the media, Momen said, “Why don’t you ask them (foreign diplomats) – why they don’t issue any statements? They consider Bangladesh a land of Mogs.

This is unacceptable. They meet with you (media) occasionally. You don’t ask them why a Bengali boy was killed. In America, people are killed from time to time.”

Throwing questions at the journalists, Foreign Minister said, “Have you ever asked them about these issues? Have you asked them about Faisal? Why don’t you? You should also be alert about such matters.”

“Whenever it comes to the matter of Bangladesh, they start making hullabaloo. Does it happen elsewhere?” he questioned.