The United Nations (UN) called on all parties to maintain calm over the conviction of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia by a special court.
UN Secretary-General`s deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said this at a regular press piefing on Thursday at the organisation`s headquarters.
A journalist presented the latest situation of Bangladesh during the question-answer session of the regular press piefing. It was also asked whether any special envoy will be sent to observe the situation in Bangladesh.
In response, Haq said, "We only recently received the report concerning the arrest and the subsequent events. We're monitoring what the events are on the ground and we will react accordingly."
"We would, of course, be concerned about any reports of violence and at this point, we call on all sides to maintain calm and we expect to have a further reaction after we've evaluated the situation further."
Asked whether the conviction of Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman is the process to eradicate them from the general election, he said, "We are not ready to say anything on whether the verdict will have any effect on the election. We are analysing the situation."
"We're just monitoring what the latest developments regarding this verdict are, and we expect that we'll say something more once we've evaluated the situation.It's too early to judge what impact this will have, but, yes, we do continue to call for an inclusive and democratic process in the country."
