A US embassy official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the ambassador’s comments.
The diplomatic source added that Mahmud did not respond to a question from a United Nations representative about the alleged use of UN-marked armoured personnel carriers and helicopters to suppress the protests.
Bangladesh is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations around the world – earning significant revenues from its efforts – and has UN-marked equipment in its military inventories.
Government figures have repeatedly blamed the protesters and opposition for the violence.
Dhaka police spokesman Hossain said at least three policemen had been killed in the capital and about 1,000 injured, at least 60 of them critically.
The detainees included the BNP’s third-most senior leader Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and its spokesman Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed, he said.
A former national football captain turned senior BNP figure, Aminul Huq, was also held, he added, as was Mia Golam Parwar, the general secretary of the country’s largest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
“FREEDOM FIGHTER” QUOTA
With around 18 million young people in Bangladesh out of work, according to government figures, the quota scheme’s reintroduction deeply upset graduates facing an acute job crisis.
The Supreme Court decision curtailed the number of reserved jobs from 56 per cent of all positions to seven per cent, most of which will still be set aside for the children and grandchildren of “freedom fighters” from Bangladesh’s 1971 liberation war against Pakistan.
