The United States wants free, fair, credible and participatory elections in Bangladesh but it does not support any violence under any circumstances.
The visiting US Congressman and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Sub-committee of the US House on Asia and the Pacific, Steve Chabot, expressed this view when he called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office here this morning.
After the meeting, the PM's Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters.
The US congressman termed the existing ties between Bangladesh and the USA as excellent and hoped that it would further be strengthened in the days to come.
In response, the Prime Minister said her government wants to maintain the continuity of democratic process as desired development of the country could not be possible without it.
In this context, she mentioned her phone call to the leader of the opposition for the dialogue to solve the problems, but added Begum Khaleda Zia had not responded to the offer. As a result, over 20 innocent people were killed during the hartal, she added.
Sheikh Hasina said the Election Commission is thoroughly independent and strong and mentioned that about 6,000 elections were held in a free, fair and neutral manner without any interference of the ruling party.
“Opposition candidates won in many cases and there were no allegations about the poll results,” she said, expressing hope that the next general elections will also be held neutrally and peacefully in the country.
In this connection, Sheikh Hasina mentioned the election violence during the BNP-Jamaat alliance government saying that over 200 people were killed in the violence during Union Parishad polls at that time.
She said the judiciary is fully independent, so there is no scope of any interference by anybody.
The Prime Minister also said the image of the country was tarnished during the five-year rule of the BNP-Jamaat government as Bangladesh was turned into a safe haven for terrorists and militants.
In this regard, she mentioned synchronised bomb blasts at 500 places of 63 districts across the country in 2005, the grisly grenade attack on an Awami League rally on August 21 in 2004, the grenade attack on UK High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury and the killing of veteran politicians such as Shah AMS Kibria and Ahsanullah Master.
However, she added her government brightened and restored the image of the country by containing militancy and terrorism with an iron fist during the last four years and 10 months.
Sheikh Hasina said the aim of her politics is to free the country from the curse of poverty. “We have been implementing various programmes to achieve the goal,” she said.
As a result of various realistic measures of the government including expansion of social safety net programme, she said, poverty has been reduced to below 26%, while over 0.05 billion people have been graduated to middle income group from low income group.
Eminent IT expert and PM's son Sajeeb Wazed Joy, Ambassador- At-Large M Ziauddin, PM's Media Advisor Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Principal Secretary Shaikh M Wahid-Uz-Zaman, PMO Secretary Molla Waheeduzzaman, Acting US Ambassador to Bangladesh Jon Danilowicz were present, among others.
Later, the Prime Minister distributed cheques for compensation to the publishers whose stalls were gutted and damaged in a fire during the Ekushey Book Fair 2013.
Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad and Director General of Bangla Academy Shamsuzzaman Khan were present.