The Egyptian and Palestinian Ambassadors in Dhaka called for banning political parties that use violence to further their political ends, according to media reports that quoted the Bangladesh Foreign Minister. Some papers that covered this news also reported that the two Ambassadors had named the BNP together with the Jamaat while calling for the ban. The news about the Ambassadors' suggestion appeared in the media after the Foreign Minister had briefed journalists on his meeting with foreign envoys in the Foreign Ministry on the current violence in the country. The Foreign Minister was also quoted to have stated that the OIC had also called for such a ban.
The Palestinian Ambassador later stated in the media that he did not express any opinion on banning any political party in Bangladesh. He added that he believed that the current violence in Bangladesh should be resolved peacefully through discussions where people should be given the right to peaceful gathering and also the right to express their views freely. The Egyptian Ambassador, however, reiterated that he had called for banning parties that commit acts of terror as his country had done.
In recent times, western countries and organisations led by the European Union have repeatedly called for banning of the Jamaat. This is for the first time that a foreign envoy bracketed the BNP with the Jamaat in the same context. Many Ambassadors and High Commissioners posted in Dhaka have however repeatedly expressed concerns about the escalating political violence in Bangladesh as they had done when there was widespread violence in the country leading to the January 05 elections. The envoys who had expressed concerns about the violence then also felt that the BNP and Jamaat activists were largely responsible for the violence and had urged both to bring an end to it.
This time, the Ambassadors/High Commissioners, while expressing the same views against violence, have been cautious in apportioning blame. They have watched the BNP and Jamaat staying away from any acts of lawlessness since the January 05, 2014 elections. They have also watched the government systematically depriving them of all democratic space and instead pursuing their leaders and supporters in all manners, legal or otherwise. They have further watched the government confining BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia when she gave the call for peaceful "anti-democracy" march in Dhaka on January 05, 2015. In protest of the action, she gave the call for non-stop blockade that has triggered widespread violence across the country. The violence has evoked deep concern among the envoys which they aired in their meeting with the Foreign Minister recently. Nevertheless, they have not pointed fingers at the BNP and Jamaat because they are not convinced that all the blame should fall upon the two. The shooting of Reaz Rahman, former BNP Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, left them questioning the credibility of government's claim that all acts of violence are being carried out by the BNP and Jamaat.
The Egyptian Ambassador has been the exception in apportioning all the blame for the current violence to BNP and Jamaat. His suggestion was in violation of the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations, which guides the conduct of diplomats in a host country. By the guidelines of the Convention, it was none of his business to call for banning political parties and that too about one that has a long history in conducting constitutional politics and has formed the government many times in the past. He would have done himself some good as a diplomat if he had followed the Palestinian Ambassador on what needs to be done in the context of Bangladesh's current political violence.
In fact, Ambassadors/High Commissioners in Dhaka, who have commented upon the current violence in Bangladesh in the media, have underlined that its solution lies through dialogue. The opinion inside the country too is for dialogue between the ruling party and the BNP for an end to the dangerous violence in the country that has now entered its fourth week without any signs of relenting. The editors of the country recently held a meeting that was participated by senior ministers of this government from where the unequivocal call has been for an end to the current violence in the country through dialogue.
One, therefore, has reasons to wonder why the Egyptian Ambassador went out of the way to express quite an unsolicited opinion to ban political parties that indulges in acts of terror knowing that his statement would be interpreted as a suggestion to ban the BNP. Unacceptable as the current violence in the country is, it cannot be compared to the type of violence that we witness these days in violence-prone countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan to mention a few. There is also a fundamental difference in the nature of political violence in Bangladesh. It is one that is as easy as said to resolve if the government is serious about its resolution. All that the government has to do to resolve the current dangerous political situation in the country is to take the initiative for a political dialogue leading to fresh elections and all the violence would instantly dissipate into the thin air almost instantly.
The Egyptian Ambassador's prescription to ban the opposition parties that he believes are involved in acts of terror is a prescription certain to push Bangladesh over the edge and turn it into what the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said in 2005 on a visit to New Delhi "as the next Afghanistan." In his own country, the current military leader of Egypt Field Marshal Abdel Fateh El-Sisi has snuffed the daylight out of the Arab Spring and re-established military dictatorship once more. A military court has recently sentenced to death over 600 sympathisers of the Muslim Brotherhood for allegedly killing a single policeman! The Egyptian Ambassador by his unsolicited comment on Bangladesh's politics has only encouraged the people of Bangladesh to conclude that he just does not have the credibility based upon the country he represents to comment on what is good for Bangladesh politics. He is perhaps unaware that millions of Bangladeshis became martyrs in 1971 to establish a democratic country.
The Foreign Minister would have done it better if he had not used the comments of the Egyptian Ambassador for political advantage of the ruling party because his efforts have boomeranged. The Egyptian Ambassador recently joined some of his colleagues to visit the BNP Office in Gulshan where the Begum Khaleda Zia is currently staying to show sympathy for the death of her younger son. He was, however, unable to see the BNP leader who was not meeting anyone for medical reasons. Perhaps, the Ambassador had gone to see the BNP leader having realised his mistaken comments about the BNP.
The writer, a career diplomat, is a former Ambassador.
ambserajulislam@gmail.com