Govt invites int’l observers before polls

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni has invited international observers to Bangladesh in the run-up to the next general elections as she believes voting with an interim government led by elected representatives can be ‘free, fair and credible’.

She extended the invite while briefing heads of foreign missions and international agencies at her office on Sunday.

The briefing, third of its kind in as many months, took place against the backdrop of radical group Hifazat-e Islam’s Dhaka siege programme and an International Crimes Tribunal awarding death penalty to a senior Jamaat leader.

Before the briefing, the dignitaries were shown pictures and video footage about the Hifazat’s rally and vandalism in the Motijheel business district on May 5 before they were evicted in a pre-dawn police drive.

The minister cited instances of 5,636 elections held under the current government ‘without a single incident of controversy or mismanagement’.

She told them the Election Commission would be able to deliver ‘free, fair and credible’ elections under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s formula – interim government with elected representatives.

“We would like to assure our friends in the international community that Bangladesh would remain open to any support for ensuring the credibility of the entire election process.”

Moni said like previous elections they would “invite and accept” international and independent observers to monitor the balloting.

“We would suggest that the international observer be on the ground not just at the time of the elections but also during the run-up to it,” she said.

The Foreign Minister briefed them about the Hifazat rally at the Shapla Chattar and the pre-dawn eviction drive and said “no lethal or less lethal” weapons were used during the “Secure Shapla” operations.

“There was hardly any scope for casualties...”