Tweet over Hero Alom: Bangladesh summons UN envoy, expresses discontent

United Nation’s resident coordinator Gwyn Lewis expressed concern over the attack on independent MP candidate Ashraful Alam (Hero Alom) during the Dhaka-17 by-poll.

In this regard, Gwyn Lewis tweeted on Tuesday.

Protesting against the matter, Dhaka has summoned Sheldon Yett, the acting resident coordinator of UN in Dhaka, and has expressed discontent over the tweet.

Foreign affairs ministry’s additional secretary Asad Alam Siam summoned Sheldon Yett at the foreign service academy Thursday afternoon.

Alongside expressing discontent, the foreign ministry communicated the government’s expectation that the UN would refrain from making any such statement publicly over any internal matter of Bangladesh in future.  

UNICEF’s country representative Sheldon Yett is now acting as UN resident coordinator as Gwyn Lewis is not in Bangladesh right now.

Confirming the matter of summoning, foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen told Prothom Alo, “Our message has been sent to them.” But, he did not clarify about the message.  

Several senior officials of the foreign ministry said the government became displeased at the tweet of Gwyn Lewis. Bangladesh is considering the tweet tantamount to interference in its internal affairs at a time when the election of Bangladesh has become a regular talking point at international level. This message has been communicated to the UN representative.

Bangladesh asked Sheldon Yett if an international organization like the UN behaves the same way in other countries, the officials added saying Bangladesh expects UN would refrain from making such unwanted comment in the future.

This correspondent sent text message to Sheldon Yett and called on his mobile phone for his comment on the issue. But he did not respond.

Expressing concern over attack on Hero Alom, Gwyn Lewis’ in her tweet on Tuesday wrote, “The fundamental human right of everyone to participate in elections without violence should be guaranteed and protected.”

Summoning diplomats of other countries and expressing displeasure over any issue is common diplomatic process. Bangladesh also summoned envoys of many countries in the past. But, summoning an envoy of the UN is unprecedented in the recent history.