Govt for int’l engagement to contain polls criticism

The government would extensively engage with the international community in the next one month to contain criticisms on the December 30 general election marred by reported rigging and intimidation of voters and opposition candidates by the ruling Awami League. 
Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen would open the move with a diplomatic briefing today organised for ambassadors, high commissioners and chiefs of foreign missions in Dhaka. 
Diplomats of over three dozen foreign missions have been invited to the briefing where the minister is likely to defend the position of the government and the Election Commission on the situation prevailed during the elections. 
‘We would focus on the parliamentary elections in the diplomatic briefing,’ a senior government official told New Age Wednesday. 
The foreign minister would call on the international community to take a futuristic approach engaging with the re-elected government on bilateral and multilateral issues, said the official. 
Senior government officials believe that Munich Security Conference scheduled for February 15-17 in Germany would be an appropriate platform to face criticism from foreign quarters on election-time environment when at least 18 people were killed and scores were injured in electoral violence. 
Heads of states and governments, defence and foreign ministers and representatives of over 100 countries and chiefs of different international organisations are set to join the conference. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, also in charge of the defence ministry, is expected to lead the Bangladesh delegation in the conference. 
She would also hold meetings with international dignitaries on the sideline of the conference. 
‘Facing criticism with setting outline for future engagements would be the strategy of the new government,’ another senior official said. 
Sheikh Hasina would also hold bilateral talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel. 
Hasina would convene the first meeting of the new cabinet of the Awami League government on January 21. 
President Abdul Hamid has summoned the first session of the 11th parliament on January 30 as the five year tenure of the 10th parliament will expire on January 28. 
In his first tour abroad as foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen would lead a Bangladesh delegation in the meeting of the joint consultative commission with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in February 7-8. 
The foreign ministry held an inter-ministerial meeting on Bangladesh-India joint consultative commission on Wednesday with foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque in the chair. 
Shahidul Haque said that almost all aspects of bilateral relations including trade, security, border management, connectivity, energy cooperation and cooperation on international and multinational platforms would be discussed in the joint consultative commission meeting co-chaired by the two foreign ministers. 
Shahidul Haque would also be in Washington for four days in the next week for series of meetings with senior US officials at the White House, the Department of State and the Pentagon. 
Bilateral trade, energy cooperation, labour issues and defence cooperation are expected to get prominence in the meetings for creating opportunities for future engagements between the two countries, diplomatic sources said, adding that issues on the recent Bangladesh elections would be on low key unless the host government showed interests. 
The ruling Awami League-led alliance took 288 of the 300 constituencies while the the main opposition alliance Jatiya Oikya Front, which included the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, won only eight seats in the 11th parliamentary elections. 
The United States expressed concern on January 1 on the election-day irregularities that prevented some people from voting, as well as on reports of harassment, intimidation, and violence in the pre-election period that made it difficult for many opposition candidates and their supporters to campaign freely. 
The European Union said that violence marred the election-day, and significant obstacles to a level playing field remained in place throughout the process and had tainted the electoral campaign and the vote. 
The United Nations said that it was aware of violent incidents and reports of irregularities in the Bangladesh general elections. 
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was the first head of government in congratulating Sheikh Hasina for the victory of her party over phone on December 31, 2018, prompting Chinese ambassador Zhang Zuo to pay a call on her at her Gonobhaban residence on the day. 
In its report, Transparency International Bangladesh labelled the December 30 general election as ‘controversial’ saying that there had been irregularities in 47 of the 50 constituencies it surveyed during the elections.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net