Mushfiqul Fazal, UN correspondent
About media report that Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen wrote a letter to the United Nations secretary-general seeking support for the ruling government, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said he is not aware of the letter.
“I haven’t seen the letter,” said Dujarric while his attention was drawn by this UN correspondent about the letter, where the foreign minister sought UN’s support and termed Bangladeshis’ demand for democracy and voting rights as unwarranted and vested political pressure, in regular noon briefing at the UN headquarters on Friday.
While asked about whether the secretary-general is aware of the government’s preparation for another one-sided election, putting opposition members in jail, Dujarric expressed his hope to see a free, fair and credible elections in Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, when another journalist asked about the UN’s stance on recognising the genocide during the liberation war in Bangladesh in 1971, the spokesperson declined to comment on an event that took place long ago.
Dujarric said that it is not for the UN secretary general to designate an event as genocide; rather, it is up to competent judicial authorities.
In response to another question that whether the UN was planning to send any observer during the upcoming national election in Bangladesh, the spokesperson said the UN does not send observers without a specific mandate.
MR/
