By Wahid Milton
Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain today reaffirmed that Bangladesh had announced its candidacy for the presidency of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) four years ago, dismissing reports that framed the race as a face-off with Palestine.
Speaking to reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Touhid said a Dhaka-based newspaper had reported that Bangladesh would compete with Palestine for the UNGA presidency.
“The newspaper wrote that Bangladesh is facing Palestine. But the headline should have been that Palestine is facing Bangladesh, because we had announced our candidacy four years earlier,” he clarified.
He noted that initially Bangladesh had anticipated a contest with Cyprus, while Palestine joined the race much later. “They did not even communicate with us, which would have been the natural thing to do,” he added.
Touhid also briefed the reporters on his participation in the Emergency Joint Arab-Islamic Summit in Doha, convened after Israel’s unexpected strike on Qatar.
“Israel launched a very unprovoked and unjust attack. What is most astonishing is that the United States was mediating a truce between Hamas and Israel in Qatar, but the negotiators were killed in the middle of peace talks. This is extremely strange,” he observed.
The adviser said the two-day Doha meeting began at the ministerial level and concluded with a summit.
“The main purpose was to express solidarity and sympathy with Qatar in this difficult time, and to strongly condemn Israel’s heinous act. That is what we did,” he stressed.
He further said Bangladesh favours exploring diplomatic and economic measures if necessary to respond to Israel’s aggression.
“Our position against this heinous injustice remains firm,” he added.
