UK wants participatory elections in Bangladesh: Amir Khasru

The United Kingdom expects neutral, acceptable and participatory election in Bangladesh, said BNP standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury on Thursday (July 20).

Khasru disclosed it to reporters after holding talks with British High Commissioner to Dhaka Sarah Cooke at the BNP Chairperson’s Gulshan political office in the city.
The meeting with the British High Commissioner was attended by BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, International Affairs Committee Chairman and standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury and organising secretary Shyama Obaid.

Following the meeting, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told reporters that the democratic nations and organisations around the world have been closely monitoring the situation prevailing in Bangladesh. They also expect a neutral, acceptable and participatory election here like the country’s people. The British government also wants that a parliament and a government would be formed through such a democratic election in Bangladesh.

Khasru alleged that the government was implementing a vote stealing project ahead of the next general election. “The government has launched a vote rigging project much earlier. Apart from obstructing the opposition parties’ programmes, the government has resorted to arresting the BNP leaders and workers, implicating them in false cases, and attacking them.”

“If we explain the last one week’s context, we can ask how many people have died and injured, how many have been arrested and sued, and how many deputy commissioners, police officers, and UNOs were transferred. The project to resort to widespread rigging of ballots in the next election is now going on unabated,” he said.

The BNP leader said it has now become crystal clear that a free, fair and impartial election in Bangladesh is completely impossible without a neutral government in power. The only way to dismantle the vote rigging project is to hold the next election under a neutral government. “We have raised these issued during our talks with the British High Commissioner today (Thursday).”

Amir Khasru said, “People of Bangladesh now desperately want to get back democracy, they want to get back their voting rights, they want to get back rule of law, they want to get back constitutional rights, they want to get back a level playing field, and they want to get back security and safety of their lives. “These are not BNP’s demands. Rather, these are the demands of millions of people of Bangladesh.”

The British High Commissioner’s flag car entered the BNP Chairperson’s office at Gulshan three hours after his meeting with Awami League general secretary Obaidul Quader. Starting at 3:00pm, the meeting continued till 4:00pm.

The British High Commissioner was accompanied by the High Commission’s political counselor Timothy Docket.

When his attention was drawn to the government’s demand that the “foreigners are now showing interest about a non-party government,” Amir Khasru said, “Who doesn’t understand in Bangladesh that a free, fair and impartial election is totally impossible without a caretaker government? Had there been free and fair elections in Bangladesh, such talks would have never been raised, and the British High Commissioner also would not discuss it coming here.”