The diplomats who attended the government's briefing on Saturday’s BNP-police clash and subsequent hartal remained silent after listening to the violent events.
"None of them asked any questions. Their expression says they were stunned. They listened to us. We gave them a written statement also," State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam said after the briefing at the state guesthouse Jamuna.
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, Law Minister Anisul Haq, Prime Minister's Advisor Salman F Rahman, Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman were also present.
Heads of the diplomatic missions, UN agencies and international organizations in Dhaka attended the briefing. None of them spoke to media.
During the briefing, the foreign minister told them that BNP and its allies have a long history of violence and aggression.
"In the early 2000s, BNP-Jamaat promoted an atmosphere of violence and intimidation, particularly during the 2001 general elections, which was marred by widespread violence and allegations of vote rigging.
"After the election, BNP-Jamaat activists committed murders and severely tortured members of the minority community and gang-rape of women.
"In 2013, before the general elections, the BNP and its allies vandalized several thousand vehicles and set many of those on fire using petrol bombs, very often burning alive the passengers stranded inside.
"Some of them are still living with horrific scars and trauma.
More than 400 people, including 20 law enforcement officers, were killed in their petrol bomb and hand grenade attacks," he said.
"My only regret is that they have not changed much."
Referring to the BNP called three-day nation-wide blockade starting from Tuesday, Dr Momen said: "We can only expect more and more assault on the lives and properties of innocent civilians. However, apart from the law-and-order aspect, there is an economic aspect of the strikes and blockades too."
Citing Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry statistics, he said, strikes and blockades by BNP cost the country a total of Tk1,600 crore ($192.3 million) or 0.2% of GDP per day.
The foreign minister also said that "BNP often played victim to misguide diplomatic missions and our foreign friends in order for gaining sympathy."
"This time, all of a sudden, we saw a so-called 'adviser' to the US President Joe Biden speaking to the press at the BNP party office flanked by senior BNP leaders. Later, it was revealed that he is an imposter and he admitted that the BNP leaders instigated him to misguide people," he said.
"BNP’s tactics of fear and forgery did not work out before and they will not now. We reaffirm our government’s strong and unwavering stance to stick to the democratic process as mandated by the Constitution and hold free, fair and credible elections in time," he said.
Replying to a question, the law minister said: “After the briefing, we asked them to ask questions if they have any. But they remained silent. That doesn't mean they agreed with us, and that also does not mean they didn't agree with us.
"We can say they were convinced in our statement," he said.
In a joint statement issued on Monday, the missions representing Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States expressed deep concern about the violence that occurred during political gatherings in Dhaka on Saturday, before extending their condolences to the victims' families and the injured.
They called on all stakeholders to exercise restraint, eschew violence and work together to create the conditions for free, fair, participatory, and peaceful elections.
The state minister said they have reminded the diplomats to remain "consistent" in their statement.
The embassies have been asking for a free and fair election. But in the seven embassies' latest statement they called all parties to work together for a participatory election.
"We still consider this an internal affairs. Issuing statement on internal affairs is not norms. But some (embassies) made it a norm," the state minister said.