Donald Lu sends letters to 3 parties to hold unconditional dialogue
Staff Reporter :
Amid the escalating unrest in the political landscape, US Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu has sent letters to three major political parties urging unconditional dialogue to resolve the current political impasse.
The letter has been sent to the three major parties Awami League, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jatiya Party to address the political unrest ahead of the parliamentary election.
The letter has stated that the United States wants free, fair and peaceful elections and calls on all parties to eschew violence and exercise restraint.
Clearing the US position in the upcoming election, it said that the US does not favour any political party over the other and urges all sides to engage in dialogue without preconditions.
Mentioning visa restriction, Dunald Lu further said that the United States would continue to implement its 3C policy in an even-handed manner against the individuals who undermine the democratic electoral process.
Earlier on May 24, Secretary Antony J. Blinken announced a new visa policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) (“3C”) of the Immigration and Nationality Act to support Bangladesh’s goal of holding free, fair, and peaceful national elections. Meanwhile, in a statement Stephen Ibelli, a spokesperson for the US embassy in Dhaka, on Monday said, “Ambassador Haas has requested meetings with senior officials in all three major political parties to underscore the US position regarding the upcoming elections.”
Regarding the Lu’s letter, Jatiya Party Secretary-General Mujibul Haque said that their party received the letter handed over by US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas on Monday.
Amid the boiling political landscape, the US letter was dispatched to the political parties to reach to a consensus before the announcement of the election schedule for the 12th parliamentary poll.
In addition, the United States has been reiterating that they are closely monitoring the situation of Bangladesh and urging all sides to resolve the political crisis.
The political landscape has been bogged down because the ruling Awami League wants to hold an election unilaterally under the current framework of the Constitution allowing the incumbent government to supervise the election.
But the major opposition BNP and other political parties have rejected the government’s move and have been carrying out movement in the streets for a long time.
Currently they are carrying out blockade programmes across the country to realise their demand.
The BNP said that they want the election to be held under a caretaker government as they said that election under the current government would not be free and fair as it did not happen in the past two parliamentary elections in 2014 and 2018.
But the government’s stance has created a yawning gap of distrust among the political parties as the ruling party wants to hold election without caring the oppositions’ demands.