C T Online Desk: The United States said once again on Wednesday that it expected the next elections in Bangladesh to be free, fair, and participatory.
Counsellor of the United States’ Department of State Derek Chollet conveyed his government’s expectations to the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, in a meeting at her official residence Ganabhaban in the morning.
He also met with foreign minister AK Abdul Momen and foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen separately.
‘During these meetings, counsellor Chollet emphasised continued US support to Bangladesh in addressing Rohingya issues, the importance of free and fair elections and the protection of human rights, cooperation to mitigate climate change, and a free and open Indo-Pacific region,’ said a press release from the US embassy in Dhaka later in the afternoon.
After the meeting, Momen told reporters in his office that they had informed the US delegation of the efforts they took to ensure that the national elections were held in a free and fair manner, including enacting the EC reconstitution law and updating the voters’ list with photos.
He said they had handed over documents showing ‘BNP’s acts of arson attacks and violence centring on elections.
Asked whether Bangladesh would be invited to join the US-sponsored democracy conference in March the minister said it was up to them. ‘Bangladesh fought for democracy, and it does not matter whether we are invited there. It was not even discussed here,’ he added.
The US did not invite Bangladesh to the first such summit in 2021.
The foreign minister said that Bangladesh had called for the US, as the most powerful country in the world, to stop the Ukraine-Russia war.
In a briefing on Chollet’s meeting with the prime minister, foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen said at the Foreign Service Academy that the US counsellor told her the country expected the next elections in Bangladesh to be free, fair, and participatory.
They had also discussed US sanctions on the Rapid Action Battalion, he added.
Chollet, who arrived in Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon on a two-day visit, was leading a seven-member interagency US delegation to Bangladesh.
The foreign secretary also said that Bangladesh sought more cooperation from the US for a sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis.
He said that sending back the displaced Myanmar nationals to their Rakhine state by creating a favourable environment there was the only solution as Bangladesh was hosting over 1.1 million Rohingya people in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char camps.
Sheikh Hasina iterated her assurance that the next parliamentary election, due before January next year, would be held here in a free and fair manner, saying that her government had reconstituted the Election Commission under a new law.
‘The next election will be fair and free. I have fought for democracy throughout my life,’ the prime minister’s speechwriter, Md Nazrul Islam, quoted Sheikh Hasina as saying in the meeting.
‘I never want to come to power through vote-rigging,’ she said, as reported by Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
The EC was completely independent, and it had administrative and financial independence, she added.
Chollet said that the United States and Bangladesh had a robust partnership based on decades of cooperation and support and that they looked forward to strengthening their relationship in trade, investment, security, and other shared priorities, according to the US embassy release.
‘The US government is dedicated to expanding the full range of trade, security, education, and humanitarian cooperation and ties between the Bangladeshi and American people to promote a more stable, secure, and prosperous future for both our nations,’ it said.
Chollet and a delegation of senior US government officials from the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development met with senior government officials, members of civil society, and representatives from humanitarian organisations during the visit.
‘The US side expressed their commitment to support the ongoing criminal justice mechanisms in international courts,’ said a foreign ministry release.
It said that Bangladesh thanked the US for its support and requested them to strengthen its humanitarian initiatives for Bhashan Char. Bangladesh sought US support for the earliest sustainable solution to the Rohingya crisis and their repatriation.
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Bangladesh reiterated its position on resolving any disputes through peaceful means and asked for an immediate end to the war.
Acknowledging improvement in RAB’s performance, the US side emphasised sustained reforms,’ the release, the release mentioned.
The foreign minister highlighted that RAB was a key force in law enforcement and earned people’s confidence and trust over the years.
The US ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, counsellor for USAID administrator Clinton White, principal deputy assistant secretary of the US Department of State, South Central Asia Bureau, Elizabeth Horst, and ambassador-at-large for Global Criminal Justice Beth Van Schaack was present from the US side.
