US does not take a side in Bangladeshi polls: Miller

The United States does not take a side and supports free and fair elections in Bangladesh, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has reiterated.

He made the remark in response to a journalist's query at a press briefing on Monday (November 13).

Referring to the letter sent by Assistant Secretary Donald Lu urging for dialogue between the political parties, one journalist asked how a dialogue can be held when most of the opposition political leaders are imprisoned.

To this, Miller said, "I welcome the attempts by various reporters to draw me into internal Bangladeshi political matters, and I’m going to continue to refrain from doing so.

"The United States does not take a side in Bangladeshi elections. We do not support one political party over the other. We support free and fair elections, period."

/KN/