Bangladesh News

The caretaker government might form a committee comprising some of its advisers to chalk out a plan for holding electoral dialogues with political parties and to formulate its positions on issues the dialogists might raise during the talks.

The government however has yet to decide when and how the dialogues will kick off and what will be the agenda, but a source in the government yesterday hinted that a dramatic development might occur within the next few days regarding the talks.

Meanwhile, Awami League (AL) yesterday decided to convene its presidium meeting tomorrow to respond to an interim government adviser’s phone call on Tuesday to one of its presidium members for the dialogues, and to formulate its position vis-à-vis the talks.

The Office of the Chief Adviser is manoeuvring hard to hold the much talked about dialogues with political parties to ensure holding of a free and fair parliamentary election in line with the electoral roadmap announced by the Election Commission (EC), highly placed government sources said.

It has however yet to decide whether the committee, if formed, will sit with the political parties or the full council of advisers will sit with them. During the tenure of the immediate past caretaker government headed by President Iajuddin Ahmed a committee was formed comprising some advisers, which held dialogues with political parties to resolve the crisis over the polls prevailing back then, the sources pointed out.

Responding to the rising demand for electoral talks, Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed on January 12 in an address to the nation announced that his government would soon take steps to begin dialogues with political parties following a decision of the council of advisers.

Following the announcement, a number of advisers have been saying that the caretaker government will start the talks with political parties after the EC wraps up its electoral reform dialogues with the parties.

“Various things regarding the dialogues are being discussed. But nothing has been finalised. A committee might be formed comprising some advisers to prepare a detailed plan for it,” a source in the chief adviser’s office told The Daily Star.

The chief adviser however has yet to assign any adviser to maintain liaisons with the political parties regarding the much desired talks.

Meanwhile, Health Adviser MM Shawkat Ali on Tuesday made a phone call to AL Presidium Member Motia Chowdhury in his personal capacities since there is no bar on advisers in making such personal phone calls to political leaders, the sources said.

Talking to political parties, it was learnt that the issues of releasing the two detained former prime ministers, trials of war criminals, withdrawal of the state of emergency, and the skyrocketing prices of essentials are likely to be raised by the parties during the talks.

Some of them are also likely to demand that the caretaker government takes measures to hold the stalled 9th parliamentary election earlier than the December deadline set by the EC’s electoral roadmap.

The Office of the Chief Adviser is also working hard to figure out a way to deal with the ultimatum given by a faction of BNP that they will not participate in the talks without party Chairperson Khaleda Zia’s participation in it, who has been detained on charges of graft since September 3 of last year.

The other faction of BNP is however ready to join the dialogues, where it intends to raise the issue of Khaleda’s release.

“We will join the dialogues and raise a number of issues including release of the party chairperson, prices of essentials, and the fertiliser crisis,” Saifur-led BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman told The Daily Star.

Chairperson appointed Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain-led faction of BNP has been demanding release of Khaleda Zia before the talks, so she may join it.

AL, however, did not demand that its chief Sheikh Hasina must be released for it to join the talks.

“The government will have to deal with such conditions when it will start inviting the parties to dialogues,” a source in the caretaker administration said. Besides, many political parties already said they will not sit in any dialogue with the government, with Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh or any anti-liberation force among their ranks, so the government will have to decide how to deal with the ultimatum, the source added.

Participating in the EC’s electoral reform talks, all political parties except Jamaat and Islami Oikya Jote, asked the commission to bar war criminals from contesting in the polls, and not to register any anti-liberation force as a political party.

They also declined to sit in a second round of talks with the EC with Jamaat among them, temporarily foiling the commission’s plan for holding a day long talks with all the parties together on electoral reforms. The EC is now thinking about an alternative to avoid the complexity and it might sit with Jamaat separately, sources in the commission said.

AL TO RESPOND TO ADVISER’S CALL
“The party will take a decision at its presidium meeting on Friday and then we will respond to the adviser’s call,” AL Presidium Member Motia Chowdhury, who had received the phone call from Health Adviser MM Shawkat Ali, told The Daily Star last evening.

Following the adviser’s phone call, senior leaders of AL including its Acting President Zillur Rahman yesterday had an initial discussion on how they should respond to the caretaker government’s initiative, and decided that the party should discuss the issue in its presidium, the highest policy making body, which is scheduled to meet tomorrow in Zillur’s Gulshan residence in the capital.

From tomorrow’s meeting, AL might ask the adviser to let the party know formally about the government’s position and the agenda of the talks, hinted AL policymakers.

“We want the head of the caretaker government to send a formal letter stating the agenda of the dialogues,” said AL Presidium Member Suranjit Sengupta.

Suranjit said when the party will sit in a dialogue with the government, it will raise a number of burning national issues including release of Sheikh Hasina, trials of war criminals, and skyrocketing prices of essentials.

PARTIES TO BE INVITED
There are over a hundred political parties in the country, but the policymakers of the caretaker government believe it will not be possible to invite all of them to the talks. The government will have to set criteria to select the parties to be invited.

The immediate past EC led by Justice MA Aziz got itself mired in controversies by inviting 116 political parties to talks on preparing a voter list in 2005.

But the current EC led by ATM Shamsul Huda had fixed criteria for inviting the parties to the recently held electoral reform talks, in line with which 16 political parties, that had been deemed eligible for registration with the commission, were invited.

The immediate past BNP-led elected government, which held dialogues on militancy following countrywide series of bomb blasts on August 17, 2005, invited no more than 20 political parties.

Sources in the Office of the Chief Adviser said considering the information available, the government will decide how many parties will be invited to the dialogues.

TIMELINE FOR THE TALKS
If the caretaker government waits for the wrapping up of the EC’s electoral reform talks to begin its own dialogues with political parties, it might get delayed for an indefinite period since the EC faces uncertainty in completing the electoral reform talks due to a legal problem.

The EC had invited M Saifur Rahman-led BNP faction to the electoral reform talks on November 22 last year, but the other faction led by Khandaker Delwar Hossain challenged the invitation in the High Court. The court stayed the effectiveness of the invitation and the matter is still pending. As a result, the EC could not complete the reform talks by November, a promise that had been made in its electoral roadmap.