Free, Fair Election
Parties must reach agreed ground rule: Mozena
US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan Mozena speaks at a dialogue titled “US-Bangladesh Relationship: The Sky is the Limit!”, organised by pro-BNP think tank, Group 2009, at a restaurant in the capital yesterday.Photo: STAR
US Ambassador in Bangladesh Dan Mozena yesterday said dialogue among the political parties was the way ahead to reach an agreed ground rule for holding free, fair, credible and participatory general election in the country. “If it has to be a democracy, there must be, I argue, free, fair, credible and participatory election. This is a challenge and the challenge is on the table”, he said, responding to a question at a dialogue. Group 2009, a pro-BNP a think tank, organised the programme, “US-Bangladesh Relationship: The Sky is the Limit!”, at a restaurant in the capital with G-9 president Sayeeful Islam in the chair. The ambassador replying to a question about US-Bangladesh security dialogue on April 19 in Dhaka said the United States would review the entire range of existing bilateral and regional security related issues, assess the security cooperation, countering terrorism threat etc. “It will help move Bangladesh to be more secured and bring peace and security in the region”. US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs Andrew J Shapiro will attend the dialogue. As Farhat Quader, wife of war crimes accused Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, requested the US government to monitor the current trial process, the US envoy said, “Like everybody, we are also following the trial”. Mozena said the US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp, visited Bangladesh and put several suggestions and the government had accepted some of those. Without giving a direct reply about a question about government withdrawing hundreds of cases bypassing the judiciary, Mozena said the US government was providing training to police to bring a radical change of mental framework and mindset of policing. Besides, he said, the US would provide training to prosecutors and would arrange training for the judges in July to strengthen rule of law in the country. America's partnership with Bangladesh is strong, deep and multi-faceted, he said, adding that Bangladesh was of strategic interest to the US. BNP leaders M Morshed Khan, Dr RA Gani, Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan, Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury, Sabihuddin Ahmed, Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf, Supreme Court Bar Association President Zainul Abedin and journalist Shafiq Rehman were present on the occasion.
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