UN chief also 'spoke to president’

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday, also spoke with President Abdul Hamid expressing his deep concern over widespread violence in Bangladesh.
During his phone conversation with the president, Ban also stressed the importance of resolving the ongoing political crisis in the country.
The report of UN chief's telephone conversation with the PM was widely published earlier in Bangladesh media. But his talk with the president was unveiled yesterday through a report published in UN News Centre.
Ban called the premier to resolve differences over upcoming parliamentary elections through dialogue.
According to UN News Centre, he [Ban] also spoke with President Abdul Hamid by phone as a senior UN political official wrapped up a five-day visit to Bangladesh with a warning that the current political crisis is exacting a heavy, human, social and economic toll, seriously threatening the hard-earned economic and social progress that Bangladesh has achieved.
“The leaders have shown statesmanship,” UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco told a press conference prior to his departure from Dhaka on Wednesday, after concluding his meetings with the government, opposition leaders and election officials.
“It remains critical to reduce tension and to continue to engage in constructive dialogue so as to create a congenial atmosphere,” he said.
“There are measures that would contribute immensely: a call by all sides to end the violence, the release of opposition political leaders, and a mutually satisfactory solution to concerns regarding the election schedule,” Taranco told the media.
The major parties have so far failed to resolve their differences over the conduct of elections and supporters of both parties have been clashing with each other and with the security forces.
Scores of people have been killed, hundreds injured, and there has been extensive destruction of property, according to UN News Centre.
“At this moment the world is remembering Nelson Mandela's legacy,” Taranco said, referring to the South Africa's first black president who died last week.
He added that there is ground for an agreement and the country's leaders must continue their dialogue in the spirit of goodwill and compromise.
Earlier this month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged the country's political leaders to immediately halt “destructive brinkmanship” and use their influence to ease the unrest.