No change in USA’s position: Mozena

US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena on Monday reconfirmed America’s views on January 5 elections saying there has been no change in USA’s position which called for immediate dialogue to hold election as soon as possible. He, however, said it is not the job of the United States to set timeline for fresh elections in Bangladesh. “It’s not for America to set the timeline…that was a statement recognising that monsoon starts in June…but our statement on January 6 is very clear that called for immediate dialogue to find ways to hold the election as soon as possible,” said the US diplomat. Mozena made the remark at a press conference, arranged at the American Centre to introduce Janina Jaruzelski, the new mission director of the USAID, as his attention was drawn to media reports that the US wants fresh election by June. Responding to a question on USAID-funded recent survey conducted by US-based Democracy International (DC), Jaruzelski said surveys are simply a snapshot in time. Explaining what the survey actually showed, she said, “It contains messages for both (political) parties.” It contains messages that the majority of Bangladeshi people believe that the recent election was not credible and the absolute majority believes that there should be another election, relatively soon, certainly before five years, she said. At the same time, Jaruzelski added, an overwhelming majority of Bangladeshi people – 79 percent – believe that violence is wrong, violence is not the answer and people should not resort violence to make their political points. “So, I think that’s the real message of the story back,” according to a news agency.