Canadian High Commissioner Heather Cruden on Sunrday said there was no alternative to a dialogue for resolving the existing political deadlock in Bangladesh.
“We urge all political parties of the country to give up the path of political vengeance,” Cruden told journalists after a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan office.
Along with the Canadian envoy, German Ambassador in Dhaka Albert Conze, Japanese Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima and EU Ambassador William Hanna held the hour-long meeting.
“We’re concerned at the mounting violence that has accompanied political unrest in recent months. We’re saddened when we hear reports of people killed or injured during protests across Bangladesh,” Cruden said.
On the recent attacks on minorities and their homes and worship places, she said: “We join a vast majority of Bangladesh’s people who find this behaviour reprehensible and see no place for it in Bangladesh.”
The foreign envoys called upon all political parties to clearly and publicly reject political violence. “We particularly call on the major political parties to publicly and explicitly condemn political violence exerted by their own supporters,” Cruden said.
Good faith in political dialogue will help create an environment free of political unrest and violence, she said, adding: “We welcome both parities’ openness to engage in constructive dialogue at the earliest so that the country can find a way forward towards free, fair and credible elections.”
BNP Vice-Chairman Shomser Mobin Chowdhury and leaders Sabihuddin Ahmed and Reaz Rahman were present at the meeting.
