Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support his Department is providing to government and opposition in Bangladesh to help address the constitutional crisis in that country.

We are deeply concerned by the ongoing violence and political unrest in Bangladesh. We continue to call on all Bangladesh’s political parties to take the confidence-building measures necessary to stop the violence and ensure an inclusive and participatory political process.

I raised my concerns about the violence and shrinking of democratic space in Bangladesh with Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, the Bangladesh Parliament Speaker, during her visit to the UK on 9 March. I also raised these concerns, not least the reported office confinement of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) Leader Khaleda Zia, when I met the Bangladesh Law Minister on 20 January 2015. I made a public statement reiterating these messages on 5 March. We are also encouraging the UN and others in the international community to play an active role.