Butt out, Bangladesh tells diplomats

DHAKA, June 27 (Reuters) Aid-dependent Bangladesh took a swipe at foreign diplomats today for expressing concern about the country's forthcoming elections, telling them it was none of their business.

Foreign diplomats recently met the leaders of the main opposition party, the Awami League, to discuss Bangladesh's political situation and the 2007 election.

They also wanted to organise an international conference on best practice for the poll but the initiatives were foiled after objections by the government, foreign ministry officials said.

''The elections, politics or the government system of Bangladesh are not the foreign diplomats' business,'' Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan told a meeting of diplomatic correspondents from local media.

''Diplomats should not cross their limits,'' he added.

The government of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia faces an uphill task of ensuring a timely, impartial election in January.

Opposition parties doubt the poll will be free and fair and have threatened to boycott it unless Khaleda implements electoral reforms.

The opposition has organised a wave of often violent protests to push demands for the removal of the chief election commissioner and his deputies, accusing them of pro-government bias and trying to manipulate the voters' list for the election.

Foreign envoys have often spoken against what they see as a lack of good governance in the south Asian country and they have stressed the need for full participation in elections.

Their views have been widely published in local newspapers and broadcast by private television channels.

However, a European diplomat denied the allegations of interfering in Bangladesh's domestic affairs.

''It is not interfering but friendly concerns as we live in a globalised world,'' the diplomat said, without elaborating.

REUTERS SHB KN1910