British High Commissioner to Bangladesh Sarah Cooke paid a courtesy call on Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader at the Setu Bhaban in Dhaka on Thursday July 20.
Discussions were held in the meeting on the procedure of the next general elections, the responsibility of the poll-time government and the possible relationships with the opposition parties. The British high commissioner called for making the elections free, fair and peaceful as well as participatory, Quader said about the meeting.
“The condition given by BNP to participate in the election goes against the country’s constitution. The foreigners have no comment over the party’s (BNP) caretaker government or one-point demand, ” Obaidul Quader added.
He further mentioned that the BNP is proceeding to the path of unrest and hinting at unleashing violence, which has become clear further in Mirza Fakhrul’s statement. They (BNP) are trying to disrupt peaceful elections. They are moving forward with the aim of foiling the election through terrorist activities.”
Quader said, “Our statement is clear, Awami League has only one point that is the elections will be held as per the constitution under the Election Commission (EC) in Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. BNP’s demand is peculiar, bizarre and illogical.”
He pointed out that the BNP will not come to the polls if they do not get a guarantee that they will win the elections and that is their pledge. We have told our leaders and activists that they should remain calm in the provocation of BNP. They (BNP) will incite but our leaders and activists should not be excited.
The Awami League general secretary questioned, “A group of people will carry out terrorist activities in a country, destroy offices, beat up police personnel and lock into clashes here and there – will the government remain silent? It is clear through which way BNP is going, he said, adding that the law enforcement agencies are here to do what they have to do.”
