The government has discussed a proposition to ask two European countries to withdraw their ambassadors stationed in Dhaka.

The discussion took place at a meeting of some top policy planners of the government on Wednesday.

‘The government would informally request the two countries to withdraw their ambassadors to Bangladesh as the activities of the two envoys are negatively impacting Bangladesh’s good relations with the countries,’ a source close to the policy planners concerned told New Age.

The government has also decided to be stricter in implementing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, as it believes that some foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka are frequently violating diplomatic norms and are ‘involving themselves in the internal politics of the country’, the source said. ‘We prefer not to declare the diplomats persona non grata as such declaration would have adverse impact on our relationships with the countries concerned.’

The government is closely monitoring the activities of some diplomats and senior officials of international lending agencies in Dhaka as it finds their actions and remarks to have ‘crossed limit of tolerance’, he added.

Multiple sources confirmed that the ‘offending’ ambassadors in question represent two European missions here.

The prime minister, Khaleda Zia, strongly criticised foreign quarters on Tuesday for interfering with the internal affairs of Bangladesh. ‘Stop interfering in the internal affairs of our country,’ she said in her valedictory remarks on a thanksgiving motion on the president’s speech in Jatiya Sangsad.

Top ministers, including the finance and planning minister, M Saifur Rahman, echoed the prime minister’s words on Wednesday.

The sources said the government’s displeasure with the diplomats stem from what the government considers to be their ‘open involvement in the internal affairs of the country, especially after the grenade attack in Habiganj on January 27 that killed Awami League leader and former foreign minister SAMS Kibria.

The ambassadors of the European Union’s diplomatic missions in Dhaka issued a joint statement on January 28. ‘The EU ambassadors are deeply concerned that the apparent failure to properly investigate previous attacks has led to a climate of impunity which encourages a continuation of such incidents,’ said the statement, issued after the envoys met Kibria’s family.

‘Denmark has expressed serious concern at the deterioration of the governance situation, especially in law and order, political violence…,’ Danish ambassador to Bangladesh, Niels Severin Munk, told the news agency United News of Bangladesh on March 4.

‘Germany is ready to enter into a dialogue with the Bangladesh authorities on how to ensure free and fair elections,’ the German ambassador, Dietrich Andreas, told UNB on March 11.

Terming the next general elections crucial for the country, Andreas said, ‘…the climate of insecurity has caused great concerns and is detrimental to Bangladesh’s development and image abroad.’

Munk and Andreas were two of the diplomats who attended last month’s ‘informal meeting’ of Bangladesh’s lenders in Washington, which made a critical reappraisal of the situation in Bangladesh.

Sources in the meeting told New Age that Demark and Germany were the most vocal at the meeting in raising their concerns about the ‘situation in Bangladesh’, and pushed for tougher conditionalities for loans disbursed by Bangladesh’s development partners.

The sources said the government is also concerned at foreign diplomats meeting political leaders and addressing the press afterwards.

On January 1, the British high commissioner to Bangladesh, Anwar Choudhury, reportedly said, ‘A country cannot be run this way …,’ after he had met the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina.

Esko Kentrschynskyj, the head of the delegation of the European Commission, recently held meetings with former president AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury and some members of parliament including BNP national standing committee member Oli Ahmed.

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations was adopted on April 14, 1961 by the United Nations Conference on Diplomatic Intercourse and Immunities held at Neue Hofburg in Vienna, Austria. The convention entered into force on April 24, 1964.

Members of a diplomatic mission have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of the receiving State, said Article 41 of the convention.

‘The receiving State may at any time and without having to explain its decision, notify the sending State that the head of the mission or any member of the diplomatic staff of the mission is persona non grata …,’ said Article 9 of the convention.