EU Team’s Sylhet Visit: Law and order, political situation came up for talks
A seven-member Election Exploratory Mission of the European Union visited Sylhet yesterday to discuss with senior officials the overall political and law and order situation in the district.
The mission held separate meetings with the deputy commissioner of Sylhet, the chief executive officer of Sylhet City Corporation (SCC), and the superintendent of Sylhet district police.
During the meeting with Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun, superintendent of Sylhet district police, the EU mission wanted to know whether there is any security threat to a possible EU election observation mission for Bangladesh's general election, said Sheikh Md Saleem, additional SP (crime and operations) of Sylhet district police.
"The SP informed the delegation that the law and order in Sylhet is very good and there is no security risk to the possible EU election observation mission," Saleem added.
Muhammed Badrul Haque, CEO of the city corporation, said the mission enquired about how the Election Commission cooperate with the administration and the police.
The delegation also asked the CEO if the 46 percent turnout in the recently held SCC polls was satisfactory.
It wanted to know about the accessibility to rural areas in the district, availability of mobile phone networks, and safety of the possible EU election observation mission at its accommodation facilities, Badrul said.
Md Mozibor Rahman, deputy commissioner of Sylhet, said the EU mission sought information on the overall political situation in Sylhet, and also asked him whether there is any possibility of violence in the next parliamentary polls.
"I told them that the last city corporation election was peaceful. All elections in Sylhet were held peacefully and there is no possibility of violence. There is a peaceful coexistence of all political parties in Sylhet. They are organising their programmes peacefully," he said.
The EU mission arrived in Bangladesh on July 8 to assess the overall situation surrounding the next general election in Bangladesh, likely to be held in late December this year or early January next year.
The members of the mission are Sebastian Riger-Brown, first secretary (political) of the EU delegation to Bangladesh; Dimitra Ioannou, team leader and also an electoral and political expert; Ian Miller, security expert; Cristina Alves, legal expert; Christopher Chamagne, logistics expert; Marie-Helene Enderlin, programme manager of election observation missions; and Tanja Nader, attaché and programme manager (governance).
On Wednesday, the mission held meetings with Information Minister Hasan Mahmud and Law Secretary Md Golam Sarwar in Dhaka.
The EU delegation is holding meetings with representatives of the government, civil society and the media, political leaders, and officials of law enforcement agencies.
The team is scheduled to leave Bangladesh on July 22.