BNP trashes Russia’s comment
Staff Reporter :
The main opposition party-BNP- on Saturday expressed the hope that Russia would play a positive role in restoring democracy in Bangladesh alongside the international community.
The party made the remark in a statement, signed by its Senior Joint-Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, following a statement of Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Bangladesh politics.
“The Russian statement on November 22, 2023, in Russian MFA’s X (Twitter) handle has come to the attention of the people of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-BNP- that Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Maria Zakharova made some remarks over Bangladeshi politics,” Rizvi said.
He said that the Zakharova accused United States ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas of meeting with an opposition member to organize anti-government rallies, thereby interfering in the internal affairs of Bangladesh.
“Zakharova’s comments are in harsh contradiction to the desires and aspirations of the citizens of Bangladesh for a transparent and inclusive election. The BNP strongly refutes the spread of disinformation,” the BNP leader said.
Given the Awami League’s tainted track record in the 2014 and 2018 farcical elections, as well as ongoing human rights violations using the state machinery, Rizvi said that the pro-democracy people and major political parties in Bangladesh believe that a transparent and inclusive election under the current regime, led by Sheikh Hasina as the Prime Minister, is a far cry.
Rizvi said that the people of Bangladesh and the democratic opposition forces, led by the BNP, had been struggling for over a decade for the restoration of their snatched rights including franchising the representatives in the Parliament.
“Citizens of our nation are actively engaged in a peaceful and nonviolent movement presently for holding a free, fair, participatory, and peaceful election of international standard, under the supervision of an election-time non-partisan government and administration, braving atrocious police persecution and joint operation of the police and the ruling party gangsters,” the BNP leader said.
Rizvi said, the opposition political parties have organized numerous massive rallies over the last few months, spontaneously attended by millions, both in the capital Dhaka, and divisional headquarters across Bangladesh.
“Aiding such rallies by any foreign diplomat is not only far from true, but a clear fabricated blame on the people’s just struggles for democracy, a complaint never raised earlier by any quarter” the BNP leader observed.
Rizvi also said that Zakharova’s statement aligning with the corrupt autocratic regime and against the will of the people of the country, itself amounted to interference in the internal affairs of Bangladesh, which was unexpected and untoward.
“Zakharova’s statement had hurt the feelings of the crawling millions, whose close relatives, numbering in thousands, had sacrificed their lives since the onset of this autocratic regime in 2009.
“The people of Bangladesh gratefully acknowledge the positive role of the democracy-loving countries and international institutions of the world. The inspirational diplomatic initiatives transcend political affiliations and ideologies, and unite Bangladeshis with the shared objective of reclaiming power for the people,” he said.
However, Rizvi said that the pro-democracy citizens did not relish seeing any other country to side with the current autocratic regime in Bangladesh.
BNP Senior Joint-Secretary General said that Russia was a long-standing friend of Bangladesh.
“We hold the expectation that Russia will not go against the will of Bangladeshis. As our nation strives for the restoration of voting rights and fundamental liberties, the support of Russia will be appropriated,” he said.
