Bangladesh foreign minister A. K. Abdul Momen has assured that the Bangladesh General election scheduled to be held on Sunday (Jan 7) will be “free, fair, transparent and credible” and the government has increased the security to prevent any violence. Speaking to WION’s diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal from Dhaka, Momen expressed his disappointment over the arson attack on Benpole Express saying, “This is indeed deplorable, such a heinous crime and we will find the culprit and definitely will punish them”
He thanked the Indian government’s statement on the Bangladesh election, pointing out that “India has a mature democracy.”
“We are thankful to India for such a statement. The sustained statement they have been making all the time, that this is a domestic issue”.
Momen highlighted how many observers, from the West and India are in the country to monitor the elections. He spoke about the US comments on the elections, Awami League’s manifesto, and more.
Sidhant Sibal: Your reaction to the burning of the Benapole express train?
A. K. Abdul Momen: It is very sad, and indeed, very disappointing. The train, fully loaded, had 194 passengers from Benapole to Dhaka, and the arsonists burned four compartments as a result poor people died, including two little kids. This is indeed deplorable, such a heinous crime and we will find the culprit and definitely will punish them. This is not acceptable at all. And we would expect everyone to condemn such heinous acts and if any political party is behind them, they should repent for such heinous crimes.
Sidhant Sibal: Do you expect more violence before the elections? It’s less than 24 hours before Bangladesh goes to elections?
A. K. Abdul Momen: You see, in the whole subcontinent there is a culture of violence, during or before the election. And this time the violence is relatively low. But yet there are new innovative ways of burden. For example, burning the compartments of a railway. These are the new things we see or are derailing the train. The government has taken adequate measures so that there is no more violence. But these are some tough guerrilla attacks. So it’s difficult to tell if there will be more. But we will try to see that no arsonist can take any advantage until our election time, we have mobilised thousands of police forces all across and we have asked the general public to let us know if they know any of those conspiracies, and the public will be rewarded. So I hope that violence will reduce dramatically.
Sidhant Sibal: So what are the measures taken by the Bangladeshi Government ahead of the elections, in terms of the number of deployments, in terms of security?
A. K. Abdul Momen: See there are varieties of focus, and all forces have been mobilized, including the army, so we hope that the violence will stop. I cannot tell you how many people but hundreds and thousands, a variety of police forces have been mobilised all across the country.
Sidhant Sibal: If I can talk about a geopolitical aspect, we have seen comments coming from Washington. We have seen the US ambassador also commenting, how do you see these comments so over the Bangladesh elections
A. K. Abdul Momen: As you understand, the US and Europeans have been asking us for a free, fair, and transparent election. Now they’re more or less convinced that there will be a free, fair, transparent, and credible election. Since then, they have not made too much noise but it is not their noise which is important. The most important is ours. We want to attend a free, fair, credible, and transparent election. That’s our objective. To uphold a free, fair, and transparent election.
Sidhant Sibal: So you’re giving an assurance to the global community that the Bangladesh elections will be free, fair, and transparent.
A. K. Abdul Momen: Yes, of course, there is no doubt about it. And if anyone wants to observe we have invited hundreds of observers, around 25,000 local election observers and there are 227 international observers, from many organisations like the Commonwealth, you name it, the IPU (Inter-Parliamentary Conference), and OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation). There are Western observers here. And they’re free to move anywhere. In addition, there are journalists from all across the globe. So, my reading is that you know, they will be reporting but we want a free, fair, non-violent, and transparent election.
Sidhant Sibal: Observers from India as well?
A. K. Abdul Momen: There are observers from India as well, the election commission of India. In addition, there were plenty of journalists from India.
Sidhant Sibal: So, my final question now, India has said that the Bangladesh election is its domestic matter, a stance clear, consistent taken by New Delhi. How do you see that stance as well?
A. K. Abdul Momen: I must say that we have great respect for Indian leadership, and India has a mature democracy. So, they know that these elections have domestic issues. These are not International, you know, leaders to make their own national interest you see, so, I’m very pleased and, we are very pleased with the Indian statement that this is a domestic issue, and Bangladesh is knows, over the last so many years, we have hold 1000s of elections. So we know how to manage a free fair and transparent election. We are thankful to India for such a statement. And the statement is steadfast. The sustained statement they’ve been making all the time is that this is a domestic issue. I hope other governments across the world, should realise what India is saying and they should follow India. Every country even in the developed country, there are questions about their democracy, about systems so they should be mindful of their systems instead of poking their nose on someone else’s domestic issues.
Sidhant Sibal: The manifesto of Awami League has talked about strengthening ties with India. The manifesto, I read…
A. K. Abdul Momen: If you look at our manifesto, the general manifesto which is most important to our public issues like inflation issues, like job creation issues, as you know, women empowerment, these are included, and also issues like you know, this freedom of media, and because we believe media is a party to our development process. And of course, we have believed that you know, we must maintain a balanced foreign policy and our cardinal principle is friendship to all, malice to none. In addition, we always give the neighborhood first, we give importance to our neighbors. We are thankful that we have developed a very good relationship with all our neighbours India, Nepal, Bhutan, and even Myanmar. Although Myanmar you see, has sent around 1.2 million, persecuted residents of Myanmar, we have a good relationship and we hope we can resolve the repatriation of these people amicably through dialogue and discussion. And I can guarantee that the election would be free, fair, non-violent, and credible. Thank you. Thank you so much.
