Emergency withdrawal precondition for credible election, says UK envoy

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SYLHET, Aug 27 (BSS): British High Commissioner (HC) in Bangladesh Stephen Evans today said withdrawal of emergency is one of the preconditions of holding a credible election.

"We understand that the Chief Adviser (CA) of Bangladesh is speaking about the withdrawal of emergency in phases," he said. "But, I think there should be a time limit to withdraw emergency," he added.

Ending his three-day visit in the country's Northeastern divisional city, the British HC made these observations at a press briefing, held at a city hotel.

Stephen termed the last Monday's incident on the Dhaka University (DU) campus as a 'painful event' and said political parties should take initiative to stop all kinds of violence and calm down their workers and supporters as well. "Because, it is the responsibility of all political parties," he said.

On a query, the British envoy said there were lots of things for holding a credible election. The Election Commission, he added, had already completed technical work like preparation of the voters' list and computer data system.