Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the election process in Bangladesh got off to a good start.
The meeting was held at 2:20am (Bangladesh standard time) on Sunday at the UN headquarters in New York. They also had a one-to-one meeting of about 10 minutes soon after the formal meeting
“The prime minister told Ban Ki-moon that her party started the election camping in full swing and so did BNP,” Bangladesh Permanent Representative to UN AK Abdul Momen told the Dhaka Tribune over telephone.
The prime minister had told the UN chief that she wanted to hold a free, fair and credible election and it would be conducted the same way it was done in all civilised countries, Momen said.
“She also asked the secretary general to send election observers during the election period.”
When asked, Momen said the prime minister had not told the secretary general that the election would be scrapped if its credibility was questioned.
The UN neither had any plan to mediate between the rival political parties, nor had it shown any interest in sending UN Assistant Secretary General Oscar Fernandez Taranco to Bangladesh to do so, he said.
Oscar Fernandez was present at the meeting but there had been no indication about his visiting Dhaka, he added.
He, however, said: “But I don’t know what they discussed during the one-to-one meeting.”
The secretary general had told the prime minister that the UN would deploy one more Bangladesh battalion for its peacekeeping mission, Momen said
“We wanted to provide two more battalions but Ban said now UN would deploy only one,” he said adding that the battalion would be deployed soon.
A battalion is a military unit with 300 to 1,200 soldiers that usually consists of two to seven companies and is commanded by either a lieutenant colonel or a colonel.
About 8,000 Bangladeshi peacekeepers are working in different conflict-torn regions across the world to restore peace and stability in those countries, and have earned fame for the country.
Hasina left the country on September 22 on an eight-day official visit to attend the UNGA session that started on September 17 in New York.
