Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Monday asked foreign countries not to bother with Bangladesh’s “internal affairs” and said the government would welcome “constructive suggestions” if any from them.
“We must accept if you have any constructive suggestions. But no countries need to bother with our internal affairs. We are an independent country. We are a sovereign country. We are a matured country,” he said, replying to questions from journalists at his office.
Asked whether it is applicable to all countries, he said, “Yes, no matter who”.
The question came following recent comments made by both the US and the Russian governments.
The US has been expressing concerns over the human rights situation and general elections in Bangladesh.
In a latest development, the US also raised security concerns with the highest level of the Bangladesh government after Ambassador Peter Haas faced a demonstration by the families of servicemen who disappeared under BNP founder General Ziaur Rahman’s regime.
He faced the demonstration while visiting a family of an opposition BNP leader, an alleged victim of enforced disappearance.
Russia has criticised the visit by the US ambassador, and equated it as a “violation of the basic principles of non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state”.
This incident is an expected result of the activity of the American diplomat, who, under the pretext of caring about the rights of the citizens of Bangladesh was persistently trying to influence the domestic processes in the country,” said Maria Zakharova, the chief spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“As of late, his colleagues from the British and German diplomatic missions have been engaged in the same cause and have allowed themselves to openly give recommendations to the local authorities regarding transparency and inclusiveness in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next year,” she said during a regular briefing on Dec 22.
The US embassy also issued a statement giving details of the December 14 incident.
The foreign minister said other countries do not need to give prescriptions to Bangladesh on democracy and human rights as these are “deeply rooted in Bangladesh's DNA”.
“The US gave opinions on the digital security act. We scrutinized that. The UN made a list of 76 people who are victims of enforced disappearance. We took it seriously and checked that. We found 10 people were alive at their homes. Indian newspapers report two of them were Indian citizens. 28 of them were convicted criminals.
“If you come up with any constructive proposals, we will accept that,” he said.
“There is no scope to question our democracy, human rights, and justice. We are serious on those issues because 3 million people lost their lives in 1971 for those rights,” the foreign minister said.
He reiterated that the government is committed to holding free, fair, transparent and inclusive elections under the independent Election Commission.