Shawdesh desk:

The US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said that his country supports free and fair elections in Bangladesh.

He made the remark at a regular press briefing in the US State Department in Washington on Monday, while responding to a question on US assistant secretary Donald Lu’s letter to major political parties in Bangladesh.

The questioner said that Assistant Secretary Donald Lu had sent a letter urging for dialogue between Bangladesh ruling party and the opposition but how could there be any dialogue when most of the opposition political leaders were in prison.

He asked for a comment from the spokesperson also saying, ‘I’m wondering who received letter from the opposition as government is cracked down – government cracked down opposition and going on, and government’s workers been killed, at least five.’

‘I welcome the attempts by various reporters to draw me into internal Bangladeshi political matters, and I’m going to continue to refrain from doing so. The United States does not take a side in Bangladeshi elections. We do not support one political party over the other. We support free and fair elections, period,’ responded Matthew Miller.

‘As you know that Bangladesh and Dhaka is another hot place like Gaza. It will become a Gaza Strip very soon if free and fair election is not going to take place. Bangladesh is a sovereign country where 90 to 95 percent of the people are in favor of democracy and free, fair, participatory, and inclusive election. Citizens of Bangladesh become very optimistic once America starts playing a role concerning human rights and the democratic process. All major political parties except Awami League are working with His Excellency Peter Haas and other diplomats from other nation,’ the questioner said and wanted to know why the US government discuss the Bangladesh issue with India and whether it did not indicate that Bangladesh had already been sold to India by the current regime of Bangladesh.

‘Let me just say what I have said many times, which is we support free and fair elections in Bangladesh. We think the future of the Bangladeshi Government should be determined by its people, full stop,’ responded the US State Department spokesperson.