Won't comment on 'internal affairs' of Bangladesh: Japanese ambassador

Japanese ambassador in Dhaka Iwama Kiminori on Wednesday said the upcoming national election of Bangladesh is an ‘internal affair’ of the country and he would not comment on it.

Iwama Kiminori made this remarks at a press conference on prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s recent visit to Japan, at his office in Dhaka on Wednesday morning.

Replying to a query on whether he backed the comment on election made by his predecessor Ito Naoki, envoy Iwama Kiminori said, “I have no knowledge on what my predecessor spoke about. However, I will refrain myself from making any comment on this issue as election is an internal affair of Bangladesh.”

On 14 November 2022, then Japanese ambassador in Dhaka Ito Naoki said he heard that police officials stuffed ballot boxes at night before the voting [in last elections] and he never heard of any such incident happening in any other country.

Ito Naoki hoped there would be no chance to do that in the next national election. The country needs a free and fair election. It is his firm expectation.

It is to mention that prime minister Sheikh Hasina went to Japan on four-day official visit on 25 April at the invitation of her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida.

During the Sheikh Hasina’s visit, Dhaka and Tokyo signed eight agreements and memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation, information technology and cyber security.