 | More useless nonsense from clueless elected officials who haven't been properly briefed on what's going on in Bangladesh. |
DHAKA - Fifteen US senators including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton have urged BangladeshÂ’s army-backed interim government to end emergency rule and hold elections. In a letter to Fakhruddin Ahmed, head of the interim authority, they called for an announcement within the next two months of a roadmap towards free and fair elections to be held as soon as possible.| Or maybe not: The recently publicized letter bearing 15 signatures of US Senators has turned out to be a forgery. Several of the US senators' offices have confirmed that no such letter was sent to the Chief Advisor. CA's office also confirmed that no such letter was received. |
Bangladesh has been under a state of emergency since January 11, imposed in the wake of deadly violence between supporters of former prime ministers Begum Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina. An election planned for Jan. 22 was cancelled and all political activity banned.
“We are troubled that the indoor ban on political activity was not lifted, as planned, on May 8,” the senators said. “Moreover, we are concerned by the lack of progress towards free and fair elections in Bangladesh.”
| I'm troubled that the Senators haven't educated themselves, and concerned that their meddling will make things worse, not better. |
Fakhruddin has said he hopes to hold an election before the end of 2008, while the Election Commission said it would not be rushed by what other nations were saying.
KhaledaÂ’s Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and HasinaÂ’s Awami league are also demanding an early election and the immediate lifting of the ban on indoor political activity.
| Of course they do -- they each think they'll win and use the results to wreck the other whilst using prybars to steal everything that's nailed down. That's what got B-desh into the mess it's in in the first place. |
The US senators lauded the efforts of the government to address corruption, saying that it was “critically important that any anti-corruption campaign be implemented in conjunction with Bangladeshi law and international standards”.
| Say, we could try that in Washington ... |
|