State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Sunday reacted to the letter of the six US congressmen calling for a ban on Bangladesh's peacekeeping missions ahead of the general elections
He said: “They are our enemy. We are proud of our armed forces, police and others who are contributing to global peace and security. They are also highly praised internationally.”
He added: “A total of 169 of them laid down their lives. Those who want to malign this achievement are not friends of Bangladesh whether they are congressmen, senators, or presidents, or prime ministers of any foreign country. They are our enemies. Those who have provoked them to write such letters, the time has come to identify them also…they are also our enemy.”
The state minister was replying to a question at the DCAB Talk of the Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB).
The six congressmen - Scott Perry, Barry Moore, Warren Davidson, Bob Good, Tim Burchett, and Keith Self – sent a letter to US President Joe Biden to ensure free and fair elections in Bangladesh. In that letter, they also asked Biden to take “appropriate measures” for banning Bangladesh law enforcement and military personnel from participating in UN peacekeeping missions.
The Human Rights Watch also made a similar statement.
There had been an overwhelming reaction to that letter in Bangladesh. However, the opposition BNP and its ally Jamaat shared the Human Rights Watch's statement on its social media pages and made a similar call.
The state minister said they are not bothered by such letters. “But we are 100% committed to holding free and fair elections.”
“You will see similar letters coming before the elections,” he said.
“I have two drafts which BNP leaders are carrying with them with money to manage signatures from the European or American politicians. But you know politicians' lives are very busy. Within that, if they can convince the staffer of any politician, then they will be able to get the signature.”
“Such conspiracy against our armed forces is treason,” the state minister told BNP, adding: “People will give them a befitting reply for that in the elections.”
“The party which was not born through a democratic process, would always hinder the democratic process,” he said, as BNP was established by General Ziaur Rahman who was a military dictator during that time.
The state minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is also committed to holding a free and fair election and she will do that.
He said that the BNP will try to foil that.
The state minister later added that there is a popular proverb in our country – to cut one's nose, to spite one's face. In 2014, BNP did not come to the election, because their key ally Jamaat did not participate in the poll.
“If you see the last 10 years, there has been an overwhelming acceptance of the government's activities internationally. Our engagements have been improved internationally. All people in Bangladesh are the beneficiaries of the development that took place in the last 10 years. Even those who oppose us are also beneficiaries,” he said.
The state minister, however, said the government would not react to such letters or statements from different organizations.
“There is no reason for (reaction) that. Those are internal communication. Our party leaders can write to our prime minister anything against me. It's up to the prime minister whether she would take that into consideration. We have seen that when the state department in their daily briefing said they are not familiar with such letters. The letter was directly sent to the White House. So, we have nothing to say about that,” he said.
About the Human Rights Watch, he said: “They had taken a position against Bangladesh since the war crimes trial for an unknown reason.”
“Initially we reacted and sat with them and laid down rules that they would give us a chance to defend before publishing a report. But they did not do that. So, we adopted a policy long before that we would not engage with them,” he said.
