Staff correspondent :

The foreign ministry today called ambassadors of 13 western nations and missions and expressed Dhaka’s resentment for “violating diplomatic norms” as they issued a joint statement over assaults on out-of-tune singer Hero Alam, who took part in the recently held parliamentary by-election in the capital.

“We had called ambassadors who issued a joint statement in the media violating diplomatic norms and practices over an undesirable incident on July 17 involving independent candidate (of by-election) in Dhaka 17 constituency”, state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam told reporters.

He added: “We have expressed our dissatisfaction for their behavior going beyond the diplomatic decency.”

Alam, however, said “We had invited them, we are not calling it “summon” to convey the Bangladesh’s resentment, unlike the case of UN Resident Coordinator in Dhaka who was “summoned” on July 20 over his tweet about Hero Alam.

The western diplomats including the US ambassador Peter Haas and British High Commissioner Sarah Cooke entered the State Guest House Padma one by one shortly before 3 PM while the meeting lasted for 50 minutes ending at 3.50 PM.

Alam briefed the journalists at the nearby Foreign Service Academy emerging from the meeting with the envoys.

Asked how the foreign diplomats responded to Dhaka’s dissatisfaction, the junior foreign minister told reporters that they tried to explain their joint statement as an effort to cooperate Bangladesh’s electoral process and they were not led by any other intention.

According to Alam four or five envoys spoke during the interaction when they said their statement was part of their continued engagement with Bangladesh.

“We countered their logic saying the Vienna Convention (on diplomatic relations) clearly stated that the first point of contact of any ambassador should be the ministry of foreign affairs,” he said.

Alam added: “We always appreciate their contacts with the media, but they should contact us first regarding making any comment on any (such) issue.”

According to Alam the foreign ministry handed the envoys copies of Dhaka’s written reaction, while Dhaka would reach the copies to the capitals of the concerned 13 countries through its diplomatic channels.

Asked if Dhaka’s reaction could complicate ties with the countries concerned ahead of early next year’s scheduled elections in Bangladesh, Alam replied in the negative.

He said effective diplomatic ties could progress even if there were difficult or burning issues among countries which could be seen among neighbourhood as well and “in no way this issue will disrupt our relations with the countries concerned”.

“Bangladesh has good relations with every (of these 13) countries, we have businesses, people to people contacts with them and communications are there at think tank levels . . . all these factors will carry forward our relations with them,”  the junior minister said.

Alam, however, said different quarters or groups might have attempts to complicate issues ahead of the elections which could have yielded the diplomats’ joint statement.

“It could have happened due to over enthusiasm of some people which we assume had happened in the case of the local representative of the United Nations,” he said.

Alam, without any elaboration, said there was at least one instance in the past, the statement of an ambassador did not reflect the stance of the capital of the envoy’s own country.

Diplomatic experts said it was a rare incident when Bangladesh’s foreign ministry called such a high number of foreign ambassadors simultaneously to lodge any protest.

But there were numerous occasions when the envoy of a country was summoned or called to express Dhaka’s discontent on certain issues.

The US embassy in Dhaka had issued the joint statement of the 13 envoys including that of the European Union that called on the government to conduct a full investigation and take legal steps against the perpetrators of attack on Hero Alam.

“Violence has no place in the democratic process. We call for a full investigation and accountability for the perpetrators. Everyone involved in the upcoming elections should ensure that they are free, fair, and peaceful,” the statement read.

The envoys of Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland in Bangladesh are among the other signatories.

The out-of-tune Bangladeshi singer with a huge internet following, Hero Alom, an independent candidate in Dhaka-17 by-polls, was assaulted at a polling centre in Banani on the polls day.

But, the state minister said, the joint statement contained some “fundamental flaws” as they could not acknowledge the fact that the day before they issued it, two of the perpetrators of the attack were arrested and “we have informed them about their shortcomings” as well.

Ahead of taking the reporters’ questions, Alam read out a written speech at the briefing which said the diplomats in their statement did not reflect the daylong peaceful atmosphere on that day.

It said they just focused on an isolated incident at the last moment of the polling while “they did not give appropriate importance on the objectivity in their evaluation for issuing a quick reaction”.

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