Shawdesh Desk:

The United States has been continuing to closely monitor the electoral environment in Bangladesh leading up to next January’s election and taking any incidents of violence incredibly seriously.

Principal deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State, Vedant Patel, made the remarks in a press briefing on Monday while responding to a question over the recent violence involving the opposition political parties’ street agitation programmes.

The questioner blamed the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party for committing vandalism and destruction of public properties on the pretext of exercising democratic rights and for disrupting the peaceful political environment to hold the next parliamentary election in Bangladesh.

The questioner wanted to know whether the US would ask BNP to stop the violence and participate in the upcoming general election.

‘We continue to closely monitor the electoral environment in Bangladesh leading up to this January’s election, and we take any incidents of violence incredibly seriously,’ said Vedant Patel.

‘We are engaging and will continue to engage with the government, with opposition parties, with civil society, and other stakeholders to urge them to work together for the benefit of the Bangladeshi people,’ he continued.

The questioner then said that the US envoy to Bangladesh, Peter Haas, was in a really difficult situation as a US citizen, who claimed himself to be an advisor to the US president, went to the BNP’s central office and claimed that he talks to Joe Biden 10 to 15 times a day.

He also said that the BNP leaders were calling US ambassador Peter Haas as the rescuer of BNP.

He questioned whether the US would categorically deny the claim from the BNP.

‘We have an incredibly talented team at our embassy in Dhaka, led by an experienced ambassador who is well-versed not just working in Bangladesh, but also the broader region largely. And as I have said, we are closely monitoring their electoral environment in Bangladesh, leading up to January’s election,’ the principal deputy spokesperson for the US Department of State responded.