US for early polls in Bangladesh

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US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher said the present caretaker government (CG) in Bangladesh has the prime responsibility to hold an early election without dragging the process too long, reports UNB.
Talking to a group of visiting reporters in Washington DC on a East-West Centre programme recently, he said there are a lot of political problems in Bangladesh and the present government has vowed to clean up those problems, and get back to an election, according to a State Department release issued on June 9.
"But the only purpose-the chief, the only goal this government can have is to hold an election. And their duty to the world and their duty to the people of Bangladesh is to lay out a timeline of how they are going to get to elections, the steps they're going to take to get there, and to have an election in a timely manner. And that's what we're looking for," Boucher said.
He said, "So we've certainly said we understand there's much to do to prepare a free and fair election in Bangladesh. But you can't drag out this process too long. You have to set a time period and you have to set a timetable that says here are the steps we're going to take to get to an election, because that's the only duty a CG has."
Boucher said, "It (caretaker government) has no legitimacy other than moving it back to an election, and that's what we expect."
The US Assistant Secretary further said, "We are interested in maintaining stability in Bangladesh. We're interested in having a good partner in Bangladesh."
He said, "Washington is interested in the two things we've always worked on in Bangladesh --- One is promoting democracy, and the second is helping them fight terrorism."