Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Wednesday said the Awami League is willing to hold talks with opposition parties.
He however cleared the position of the ruling party adding that the dialogue must be unconditional and in line with the structure of the Constitution.
The Home Minister made these remarks at a media briefing after a meeting with British High Commissioner to Dhaka Sarah Cooke at the Secretariat in the capital Dhaka.
“The door for dialogue is not closed yet. The government, led by the ruling party, has always welcomed the matter,” he further said.
“Cooke stressed the importance of dialogue, citing it as a prominent tool for a free and fair election. The Awami League government also believes that any political crisis should be solved via dialogue, the home boss continued.
“But the dialogue must be held in line with the Constitution. Cooke also agreed with us on that point.”
In a question over the ruling party’s measure to hold a dialogue, the home minister said, “If any political party wants discussions, we are open to it, but the talk must be unconditional. We can’t do anything which is not supported by the Constitution.”
Asaduzzaman Khan also said steps will be taken to sign standard operating procedures (SOPs) soon to bring back undocumented Bangladeshis living in the UK.
"British High Commissioner Sarah Cook has come to our office for the first time since arriving in Dhaka. Britain has a long-standing relationship with us,” said the home minister.
“Some undocumented Bangladeshis are in Britain. We have standard operating procedures (SOPs) with Europe, and an SOP was signed to bring back those living there illegally. We talked about signing an SOP with the UK as well. We have said that we will sign this SOP very soon,” Asaduzzaman added.
“They want to cooperate with our country in every way. They want to train our law enforcement agencies. We also told them that our police officers have received training from you before. We want to continue that,” the minister also said.
Asked if BNP’s Acting Chairperson Tarique Rahman could be brought back to the country from the UK through standard operating procedures, he said, "We will try our best."
