Staff Reporter:
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Sunday said no foreign country or organization came up with any proposal for holding political dialogue or any suggestion or framework beyond the current constitutional provision.
He said he did not part of any such meeting over the 9-10 years.
Shahriar Alam said even no country or organization did convey anything as such to his colleagues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The state minister made the remarks while responding to questions from a small group of journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I don’t know why political leadership (opposition) is saying these things. But we did not receive any such proposals from any country or organization, forget about pressure,” he said.
Responding to a question over UN involvement, he said, “There is no need. UN gets involved in a war or massive conflict situation.”
He said the Election Commission is working to hold the election and foreign election observers will come to see as invited by the EC.
Responding to a question on Rohingya repatriation, the state minister said Bangladesh is still committed for safe, dignified, and voluntary repatriation of the Rohingyas. “What we had said in the past remains unchanged.”
He said they must continue the efforts and if the situation in Myanmar is not satisfactory to the Rohing-yas, they can come back.
But it is very unfortunate that those who were staying at transit camp for repatriation were not provided with food by the UN agency, he said.
The state minister said it needs to make sure that such unfortunate things do not repeat. “Certainly, the UN will look into it.”
He said the remarks made by the UN expert on Myanmar undermine and disrespect Bangladesh’s efforts towards repatriation.
“Trial is a trial. It’s not a large-scale repatriation. Since, the number is insignificant, we can bring them back if that doesn’t work,” Shahriar Alam said adding “We don’t see any reason to go against it.”
“This is truly a trial,” he said, adding that the government kept the UNHCR informed.
