AL, BNP reply to UN letter

Both the ruling Awami League and the BNP have replied to the letter of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for a dialogue to resolve the current political crisis and an end to violence that already claimed about a hundred lives. 

Sources said the UN secretary general, who wrote to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia separately, received both the letters on Thursday.

BNP insiders said the party in its letter said it was ready to sit for a dialogue with the government to resolve the current political impasse. The letter also mentioned the government's “repression” on the party leaders and workers.

The AL sources said the foreign ministry in its letter to the UN chief termed BNP-Jamaat's activities "acts of terrorism" and said the government cannot sit with "terrorists".

Contacted, AL International Affairs Secretary Lt Col (reed) Faruk Khan said his party stands firm against sitting with "terrorists".

"If we sit for a dialogue with terrorists now, they will come up with another demand again after three months. In no circumstances we can sit with killers," he said.

Meanwhile, BNP leader Osman Faruk, now in the United States, met a special representative of Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters on Thursday, said one of his close aides.

An adviser to BNP Chairperson, Faruk at the meeting reiterated that his party is ready to sit with the government anytime.

The special representative would visit Bangladesh by March 12 and talk to leaders of the two political parties, BNP insiders quoted Faruk as saying.

The UN official also informed the BNP leader that Ban ki-moon received the letters of both the parties, according to the insiders.