Dhaka: After issuing a unified statement condemning an assault on an independent candidate during a recently held parliamentary by-election, 13 Western ambassadors were summoned by Bangladesh's foreign ministry.
Awami League (AL) candidate Ashraful Alom was attacked on July 17 in Dhaka. The attack was denounced by the envoys, who included representatives from the United States, Britain, France, and the European Union.
Alom, an actor and social media star also known as Hero Alom, was beaten in an attack in a polling centre in Banani in Dhaka. His party has alleged that the physical assault was carried out by supporters of the ruling party.
The 13 diplomats, also including envoys from Canada, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, issued a joint statement warning that “violence has no place in the democratic process”.
They also called for a full investigation and accountability to be brought against the perpetrators. The envoys were summoned to explain their statement, said Shahriar Alam, a junior foreign affairs minister.
“We said that it is an incident by which the peaceful, free and fair polls of the whole day cannot be judged,” Alam told reporters after the meeting. “We have expressed our discontent over [the envoys’] behaviour.”
“Bangladesh expects that the diplomats will refrain from such undiplomatic behaviour in future,” Alam added. Mohammad Ali Arafat, the recently elected lawmaker of Awami League who won against Hero Alam, told the media that the very fact that the US and EU are concerning themselves with Bangladesh’s internal matters is very disturbing.
Awami League has fought more for democracy in Bangladesh. Our country’s interest should be determined by our own citizens, not some foreign power,” he said. Arafat said he was “very shocked” by the assault on Hero Alam and had personally urged law enforcers to immediately arrest the perpetrators, which the police did.