BNP wants UN mediation to ensure fair polls

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party has called on the United Nations to play its part to ensure an environment conducive to a free and fair election in the country, party sources said.

The opposition, they added, has requested the global to monitor the development on Bangladesh's political front ahead of the national polls.

A three-member BNP delegation led by its secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir made the points during a meeting with UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs Miroslav Jenca at the UN headquarters on Thursday, according to diplomatic sources.

Mirza Fakhrul and another member of the delegation Tabith Awal have returned to Dhaka on Sunday. A third member, London-based Humayun Kabir has returned to the UK.

One of the members of the BNP delegation seeking anonymity said the BNP holds regular meetings with friendly nations and international bodies.

The US tour was a continuation of that process. The UN and US state department officials gave them a patient hearing, so they have now got a chance to evaluate the present situation of the country.

When asked if they had discussed UN sending a mediator for the polls, the BNP leader said they did mention the name of Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, who visited Bangladesh in 2013. "We did point out that his mission here was not successful," said the BNP leader.

"The BNP delegation said the ruling Awami League has already started election campaigns although the schedule is yet to be announced. However, the BNP is not getting any opportunity to do so and the UN should keep an eye on the situation here," he added.

Oscar Fernandez-Taranco came to Dhaka in the December of 2013, a few days before the 5 January 2014 election. Although he had held 25 meetings in six days, before his departure, he said his best achievement was to make two rivals sit for a dialogue.

However, diplomatic sources in New York said the UN has no scope to intervene now. They do so only when a government requests them.

The sources said Bangladesh permanent representative to the UN Masud Bin Momen also had a meeting with Miroslav Jenca.

The government has learned that the BNP team showed the UN officials footages and media reports on 'attack on the BNP men'. The BNP has said they want to participate in the election and it is a must to create equal opportunities for all the parties.

BNP sources said they could not meet UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres when he came to Dhaka in July. At the beginning of this month, the UN headquarters invited the BNP delegation to meet the UN assistant secretary-general for political affairs.

The BNP delegation also met acting assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs Alice G Wells and officials of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. They also sat with diplomats, researchers and human rights activists, including former ambassador in Dhaka William B Milam, who is now a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Speaking to Prothom Alo over phone, Milam said the BNP delegation highlighted the country's political scenario during the meeting with the UN assistant secretary-general. He believes their main aim was to draw sympathy given Bangladesh's present political context.

Fakhrul on Monday briefed the party's standing committee about the developments during the US tour. Speaking to the media afterwards, he said, "I conveyed the UN about the country's present political situation. We informed them about what they wanted to know. They will look into this."

* This report, originally published in Prothom Alo print edition, has been rewritten in English by Quamrul Hassan