[mukto-mona] FM alerts diplomats to sweeping remarks

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/index.php?ref=MjBfMDRfMTFfMTNfMV8yXzE2NjA2NA==

FM alerts diplomats to sweeping remarks

Published : Thursday, 11 April 2013

FE Report

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni urged Wednesday foreign diplomats based in Dhaka to refrain from making sweeping remarks on the country's current political sensitivities and get the ground reality of confrontational politics before taking any stance.

She was addressing ambassadors, high commissioners and heads of international organisations based in Dhaka at a local hotel in the city to brief them on the ongoing political chaos including hartals of the opposition political parties, the recent Dhaka-March programme by Hefazat-e-Islam (HI) and the actions taken by the government.

"It is, therefore, all the more expected of you, for staying closer to the ground, to develop a real understanding of the sensitivities to help your respective audiences and constituencies acknowledge the gravity of the situation and refrain from making a sweeping knee-jerk reaction to the events," Dipu Moni told the foreign diplomats.

"We would expect the international community to remain sensitised to the exigencies faced by the government that may require us to take such legal actions against different quarters responsible for such ongoing confrontations," she added.

The foreign minister, expressing her frustration, said international outcry had been made frequently over issues or events without really having an appreciation for the undercurrents, difficulties or challenges faced on the ground.

US Ambassador, Mission chiefs from different European countries, United Nations (UN) bodies operating in Bangladesh and Asian nations attended the meeting.

The Foreign Minister vowed to scale up measures so that youths are refrained from being radicalised.

"We remain confident that the youths of this country would continue to reject all forms of bigotry, hatred and obscurantism that tend to pull us backward as a nation," the foreign minister said in her written speech.

Describing the platform of HI being used by opposition political parties, the foreign minister said: "Certain vested political groups are trying to take advantage of the so-called non-political banner of the HI to advance some of their political agenda in an undercover manner."

She termed the 13-point demand of the HI as controversial and contrary to building a democratic, pluralistic, secular and inclusive society.

"We shall not allow the clock to be turned back on the fundamental tenets of our statecrafts and harbour demands that stand in clear contravention with our constitutional principles and obligations," Dipu Moni told the diplomatic gathering.

She criticised the assault on a female journalist by the HI men on April 6 in the capital.

The foreign minister said her government had already taken punitive measures against the atheist bloggers defaming the religion of Islam and Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH).

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission had shut down certain blogs that were found to have been engaged in propagating hurtful and malicious contents against Islam and its Prophet (PBUH), she said.

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