Palestinian envoy denies saying anything like that
Unb, Dhaka Egypt
and Palestine today urged the government to ban the organisations that
are involved in terrorist activities in Bangladesh, said Foreign
Minister AH Mahmood Ali today.The foreign minister said this while talking to reporters after briefing diplomats from Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries and Saarc and Asean member states at the state guesthouse Padma.
Mahmood Ali also said the diplomats condemned the ongoing violence and arson attacks causing loss to public life and property, and sought an initiative to resolve the crisis but did not raise anything about the January-5 elections.
Talking to UNB at a programme, Palestinian Ambassador to Dhaka Shaher Mohammad said he did not say anything like banning any organisation. "No, no no, I didn’t say anything like this."
Shaher said he only urged for resolving the problem peacefully through discussion and laid emphasis on peaceful gathering and ensuring right to expression of views peacefully.
However, Egyptian Ambassador in Dhaka Mahmoud Ezzat said he did raise the issue at the meeting. "We’ve banned such terrorist organisations in our country because we are suffering. And yes, I did raise the issue. Parties which are committing terrorist acts should be banned. We expect the same from Bangladesh what we did in our country," he told the news agency.
Diplomats from the OIC member countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar and Bahrain attended the briefing.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque were present.
On Wednesday, the foreign minister briefed the ambassadors from the European Union countries and the head of delegation of the European Union in Bangladesh on the current political situation.
He briefed the ambassadors of other European States-- Russia, Norway, the Holy See and Switzerland -- along similar lines on the same day separately.
The foreign minister briefed another group of diplomats, including the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea on Monday.
The foreign minister upheld government position regarding current political situation apart from drawing attention about ongoing violence and arson attacks reportedly carried out by BNP-Jamaat alliance, said a source close to the meeting.
The briefing is part of the foreign minister’s regular consultations with the ambassadors and heads of mission based in Dhaka.
