UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has arrived in the capital to encourage the country’s political leaders to hold non-violent, inclusive and credible elections.
Taranco landed in Dhaka at 8:15 last night and is scheduled to leave Tuesday. He did not issue any statement on arrival.
Taranco is leading a five-member team, with two officials from the Department of Political Affairs and one senior mediation expert, and will have a series of meetings with major stakeholders during the trip.
The government, however, has rejected the UN envoy’s request to meet President Abdul Hamid and Chief of Army Staff Gen Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan.
This is Taranco’s third trip to Dhaka in a year; he visited last December and in May. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has sent his deputy to mediate the ongoing political crisis.
Taranco will hold meetings with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP chief Khaleda Zia, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali, Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, and diplomats and civil society members.
His schedule is prepared in such a manner so that he can convey messages among the leaders.
On Saturday, Taranco will meet Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam in the afternoon and then the prime minister.
After that, he will meet BNP’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and then the BNP chief.
In a similar fashion, he will meet Ashraf on Monday morning, Fakhrul in the afternoon and Khaleda in the evening. The next day he will meet the prime minister again before leaving Bangladesh.
The visit of the UN official, two days after the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh is seen as an effort of the international community to reduce tension among the political parties amid the ongoing political confrontation over the arrangements for the polls-time government.
During her visit Sujatha Singh stressed the need to hold the elections on time.
The Election Commission declared the election schedule last month and the date for submission of nomination papers expired on December 2.
Meanwhile, the UN secretary-general wrote letters to the prime minister and the BNP chief last month, urging them to engage in a dialogue as “time was running out” to find a way to have a credible election.
He also made phone calls to both of them in August to encourage them to hold dialogue.
