The initiative of the 10 envoys

A group of 10 Ambassadors met Begum Khaleda Zia in the evening of March 03 amidst fear that the government might incarcerate the chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) the following day. The US, Japan and UK ambassadors were among the 10 who met Begum Zia. The Australian High Commissioner read out a statement following the meeting. BNP leader Nazrul Islam Khan, who attended the meeting, stated the BNP had no statement of its own but that it concurred with the one issued on behalf of the ambassadors.
The meeting of the ambassadors with Begum Zia was significant for a number of reasons. First, it was held to follow up on the calls made by USA, UK, UN and EU since the present political disturbances started in early January. Second, the BNP/Jamaat's objective to force the government to hold fresh elections is still nowhere near to becoming successful while the government's intention to end it by force is also not going anywhere. Third, over a hundred people have already been killed, mostly burnt to death while quite a few have died in "cross-fires". Fourth, the country has come to a standstill and the lives and livelihood of the people have become uncertain and unless peace and stability is restored fast, the country's economy could collapse.
The hacking to death of the US-based Bangladesh secularist blogger allegedly by an international Islamic fundamentalist group has given a new twist to these dangerous predicaments now facing the country. People are afraid that unless the current dangerous political situation is resolved peacefully, the country could become a hotbed for international terrorists. A few top ministers of the government have openly said such terrorists are now already in Bangladesh and alleged there are links between the BNP/Jamaat and these groups.
Therefore the meeting of the 10 ambassadors with Begum Zia has become a major discussion in the country's politics since it took place. People are expecting that they would help steer politics of the country towards a peaceful resolution. Their expectations have been raised by the fact that the meeting in Begum Zia's Gulshan office was preceded by a meeting of the same ambassadors with the Foreign Minister on March 01. In addition, some of these ambassadors are among a group of 16 who have also written a letter to the Prime Minister encouraging her to resolve the current dangerous political situation in the country peacefully.
The letter of the 16 ambassadors to the Prime Minister (PM) and the meeting of 10 of them with the Foreign Minister before they met Begum Zia suggests that the three developments may be inter-related rather than separate and independent ones. The 10 ambassadors must no doubt have informed the Foreign Minister of their intention of meeting Begum Zia. The letter of the 16 ambassadors to the PM must also have hinted that they would like to meet Begum Zia. Therefore, the Prime Minister must have had given signal to the meeting with the 10 Ambassadors with Begum Zia through the Foreign Minister, her public utterances against making any overtures to the BNP and Begum Zia until they give up their movement and violence notwithstanding.
Therefore, the ball is already in motion about dialogue between the two parties, albeit indirectly. High Commissioner Greg Wilcox, who read the statement after the meeting with Begum Khaleda Zia, underlined the element of violence in the current political movement in the country and the need to end it. The statement recalled earlier statements made by them on the current political situation and those made by the UN. The most important part of the statement was its emphasis on "confidence-building measures" leading to "de-escalation of Bangladesh's conflict" to foster "safety, stability, growth, human rights and democracy in Bangladesh". The statement left no doubt that although it was issued after meeting with Begum Zia, the message was to both the BNP and the AL to shun conflict to end the current dangerous situation in the country for the sake of protecting human rights and democracy.
There was a qualitative change in the statement compared to those made by the same group of ambassadors about the violence leading to the January 05, 2014 elections. At that time, fingers were pointed only at the BNP/Jamaat. This time the statement read out by Greg Wilcox was not specific to the BNP/Jamaat, which is why the BNP had stated after the Australian High Commissioner had read out the statement that it concurred with it and did not issue any separate statement.
There are positive signs after these three developments, particularly the meeting of the 10 ambassadors with Begum Zia - signs still faint, but positive nevertheless. The meeting at least earned Begum Zia temporary reprieve from going to jail that seemed to be one immediate objective of the meeting of the 10 envoys. The Indian high commissioner has, meanwhile, met the Chinese ambassador to discuss the current political situation, particularly the situation evolving after the meeting of the 10 ambassador with the BNP leader. These two ambassadors have not been part of either of the group of 16 who wrote the letter to the Prime Minister or the 10 who met Begum Zia and the Foreign Minister. One reason why they were not a part of the 10 ambassadors was perhaps the 10 met under the umbrella of the informal Tuesday Group that includes the Western envoys and the ambassador of Japan.
In an otherwise bleak political scenario, the initiatives of the envoys could show Bangladesh a way-out from the political quagmire into which the politics of conflict of the BNP/Jamaat versus the ruling party has pushed the country. The envoys have not offered to mediate but have left it to the political parties to do the needful.
POSTSCRIPT: The Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President would visit Bangladesh soon. The meeting of the Indian and the Chinese envoys could be a hint that India and China are acting behind the scene to beat the western envoys to ending the dangerous political disturbances in Bangladesh.
The writer is a former Ambassador.
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