We don’t want to be anyone’s tail: Momen to EU delegation
Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen held a meeting with the visiting European Union (EU) election expert team at his residence in Sylhet on Wednesday. The foreign minister answered different questions from the delegation. However, the EU delegation didn’t give their own opinion. They only listened, the foreign minister said.
He disclosed this while speaking to newspersons at his residence in the Dhopadighir Parh area in the Sylhet city after the meeting on Wednesday evening. Later, AK Abdul Momen showed them his electoral camps.
He said, “We said as we want to maintain a balanced foreign policy, many countries are interested in us. We have a problem there. We don’t want to be anybody’s tail. We are an independent country. We want a free and fair election. Several big countries want to sell many things. We only do what is good for the people of the country. They want to forcefully sell things, but we don’t buy those. For this reason, they are a bit dissatisfied with us. And then they come up with various excuses. But we have principles. And people respect you when you have principles. This is what we have learnt. You may be poor, but you will have respect. For this reason, respect for our country in the international arena has increased a lot.”
Foreign minister said, “When they asked me whether I have any rival candidates in my constituency, I said yes there are five contesting candidates including me. We don’t underestimate any rival. We are continuing with our election campaign. The rival candidates are conducting their campaigns in their own way. I told them that everyone in this city is on good terms with others. We have a good relation with our opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as well. There is no fighting here.”
“I also mentioned their (BNP) mayor (former Sylhet city corporation mayor Ariful Haque Chowdhury). Nobody misbehaved with him. Sheikh Hasina’s government assisted him. The prime minister only cares about one thing, development. Who is doing it, that doesn’t matter to her.”
He further said, “The delegation didn’t share any observations. They only listened.”
BNP, during their meeting with the EU delegation, alleged that thousands of their leaders and activists have been arrested. Speaking regarding this, the foreign minister said, “We have already said that we haven’t arrested any political leaders or activists. The people who were found to be involved in sabotages or those found guilty analysing the CCTV footage have been arrested. None was arrested for any political reason. There are several BNP leaders who are involved in sabotages and give the orders for burning vehicles. These people have been identified.”
Mentioning that there is no chance of vote rigging this time, AK Abdul Momen said, “There were 12.3 million fake voters in the list made by the Election Commission led by MA Aziz, during BNP’s tenure. We have introduced the biometric system. There won’t be any vote rigging this time. There are also allegations that votes will be cast the night before the voting day. Therefore, we have made arrangements for transparent ballot boxes so that everyone can see as to how many votes have been cast.”
“Most importantly, we have formed a strong Election Commission (EC) which will be in charge of everything during the polls. If they want they can transfer any government or police officials,” he added.
The foreign minister further said that, “We have told them that we want a free and fair election. We have done all the work needed to ensure that. Let the people of the world come and see what we want. A number of elections were held in the last 15 years under the governments led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Each of those elections was fair. I have told them that 3 million people sacrificed their lives to establish democracy in this country. I also told them about the key factors of our election manifesto declared by the prime minister. We want to build a smart Bangladesh in future.”