Bangladesh Ambassador to the United States Mohammad Ziauddin met Kenneth Wollack, President of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a world reputed think tank in Washington DC, and discussed the current political situation in Bangladesh.

Ambassador Ziauddin said the present struggle in Bangladesh is against extremists, perpetrators of crimes against humanity and anti-liberation forces.

Ziauddin and NDI President Wollack discussed, among others things, democracy, human rights, transparency, religious extremism and counterterrorism at the meeting held on Wednesday, said a media release received here on Saturday.

Ambassador Ziauddin stated the genesis of Bangladesh Awami League as a political party created by the people vis-a-vis the other political parties created under the patronage of the military rulers after the brutal killing of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

“During the post-1975 period, military autocrats systematically provided impunity to the killers of the Father of the Nation and deliberately reinstated the religious and the anti-liberation forces into politics,” he added.

Ziauddin said the people of Bangladesh are secular and have been living in peace and harmony for centuries. Ambassador informed that the present government under the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has vowed “zero tolerance” against all forms of extremism and terrorism.

He discussed the constitutional obligations and other perspectives of holding the 10th national parliamentary elections.

As the Awami League was voted to power with clear majority, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working hard to bring qualitative changes in the lives of the people of Bangladesh, Ziauddin said.

NDI President Wollack, who is a key policy contributor to the Democratic stream in the Unites States, stressed finding a solution or a way out of the political crisis in Bangladesh.

Kenneth Wollack appreciated the economic and social successes in Bangladesh.

He assured that the National Democratic Institution (NDI) is ready to extend all possible help in support of strengthening democracy in Bangladesh.