By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka

The ruling Awami League (AL) has made it clear to a visiting European parliament team that it would not hold any dialogue with the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led coalition unless ongoing violence stops.
“Talks can be held when the time for election comes,” the prime minister’s Adviser Gowher Rizvi said yesterday after a meeting with the delegation at the party chief’s Dhanmondi office.
It means, the ruling party won’t hold any talks before 2019 when the present five-year tenure of Sheikh Hasina’s government ends.
About a hundred people have been killed, mostly in arson attacks, since January 5 this year when the BNP-led alliance started its non-stop blockade to press for a snap election.
The BNP and its allies boycotted the last general elections.
The European Parliament delegation’s visit aims at making a first-hand assessment of the human rights situation in Bangladesh.
Gowher Rizvi said new rules could be prepared to make the Election Commission stronger to organise a fair election.
“But it must be done within the democratic framework,” he stressed.
 Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia for the ongoing violence and rejected talks with her.
She told the parliament that Khaleda would be tried for the deaths during the BNP-led alliance’s agitations.
The European parliament delegation led by Cristian Dan Preda, vice-chairperson of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, did not comment on yesterday’s meeting.
It met Khaleda on Tuesday and state minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam the following day.
Gowher Rizvi said: “There can be no talks with the BNP if the acts of terrorism and sabotage do not stop.”
 “If it is necessary to hold discussions with BNP on free, fair and credible elections and on how to strengthen the election commission or on other election system, the Awami League will do so,” said Gowher Rizvi.
“But, Awami League will do everything within the constitutional and democratic process,” Rizvi added while briefing journalists on a meeting with the delegates of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights.
Besides Rizvi, AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam, PM’s advisers HT Imam and Moshiur Rahman, AL’s international affairs secretary Faruq Khan and the party’s joint general secretary Dipu Moni were present at the hour-long meeting held at AL president’s Dhanmondi office yesterday afternoon.
“The discussions may be arranged before the next election. Containing violence is the first priority of the government at this moment,” Rizvi also said.
Following the meeting, the EU delegates did not make any comment before the media but said they will issue a press release.
The head of the delegation Cristian Dan Preda was irate yesterday over a statement by a Bangladesh minister and said they are very concerned about the human rights situation in the country.
“We’re here because we’re very concerned about human rights situation,” he told reporters after a meeting with the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Dr Mizanur Rahman in the capital.
Preda also cited a Daily Star report that quoted state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam saying the EP is not concerned about the human rights situation in Bangladesh.
Shahriar on Wednesday said the EP delegation did not express any worry about the human right situation during their meeting with him.
The delegation arrived in Dhaka on Monday night and started their four-day visit from Tuesday.
They have so far held meetings with garment manufacturers, visited factories, held talks with rights bodies and political leaders.
The delegation was scheduled to meet a select group of reporters but it was cancelled due to “time Constraint”.  
The European Parliament last year passed a resolution to express concern over human rights violations by the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and other security forces in Bangladesh. Such violations include enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of opposition activists.  
It said it is more now important than ever to build public confidence on judicial, security and human rights institutions to thwart the increased threats in the region from terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda.
The joint resolution on human rights violations in Bangladesh was moved by more than 40 members of the European Parliament from different groups. The resolution was debated in the French city of Strasbourg, followed by its adoption in a vote.
“(The European Parliament) urges the government of Bangladesh to bring the state security forces, including the police and the RAB back within the bounds of the law. It strongly calls on the Bangladeshi authorities to put an end to the RAB’s impunity by ordering investigations and prosecutions into the alleged illegal killings by the force,” says the resolution.
“(The European Parliament) points out that it will closely monitor the proceedings in the Narayanganj murder case, in connection with which three RAB officers have been arrested. They are awaiting judicial proceedings following the abduction and killing of seven people in Narayanganj in April 2014,” it adds.
The resolution called upon the Bangladesh government to immediately release anyone subjected to an enforced disappearance, unless they can be charged with a recognisably criminal offence for which they should be brought before a court, according to the website of the European Parliament.