Six US Congress members, in the backdrop of the ongoing stalemate over the arrangement of polls-time government, have sent letters to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia urging them for a free, fair, and credible election process.
Eliot L Engel, Edward R Royce, Steve Chabot, Joseph Crowley, George Holding and Grace Meng sent similar letters on Saturday urging them to engage in dialogue immediately.
“We strongly urge you to engage in direct negotiations immediately with leaders of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to ensure that the upcoming elections are free, fair and viewed as credible by the Bangladeshi people,” they said in the letter sent to the prime minister.
In similar language, they also urged the BNP chief to engage in dialogue with the Awami League.
“We do not see how credible elections can take place unless the parties move quickly to engage in direct negotiations and all sides agree to move ahead.”
This includes the establishment of a mutually acceptable mechanism to carry out the elections in a credible manner, they said urging them to do everything within their power to prevent any and all forms of violence.
“The United States will work with the future, credibly elected, Government of Bangladesh, and we urge that future government to exact no retribution on whichever party loses the election,” they said.
