Bangladesh News

Saifur Rahman-led faction of BNP alone participates in electoral reform talks with the Election Commission (EC) today as the other faction loyal to detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has refused to take part in the dialogue together with them.

Unless any dramatic development takes place overnight, a 10-member delegation of pro-Saifur faction would join the dialogue at the EC Secretariat at 10:00am, ending over six months of tussle between the two factions for EC’s invitation to participate in talks.

Against this backdrop, police authorities plan to deploy at least eight platoons of police personnel to beef up security in the EC Secretariat areas to avert any unwarranted incidents during the talks, police sources said.

Meanwhile, Saifur Rahman, BNP acting chairperson appointed by the party standing committee, in the last couple of days tried to persuade senior leaders of pro-Khaleda faction to join the talks with the EC together.

But policymakers of pro-Khaleda faction, who vehemently opposed the EC’s invitation to Saifur-led faction, did not respond to their rival’s move, BNP sources said.

“We will however wait till the last minute to participate in talks with the Election Commission together with them (pro-Khaleda faction),” BNP Standing Committee Member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday.

“The unification move will continue even if they [leaders of pro-Khaleda faction] do not join us for the talks,” said Mahbubur, also a policymaker of Saifur-led faction.

BNP chairperson’s adviser Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah however categorically said in the last couple of days they would not join the EC’s polls reform talks with Saifur-led party faction.

Nazrul Islam Khan, joint secretary general of BNP, yesterday said the EC is not holding talks with the mainstream of BNP.

“So, the question of joining the talks does not arise at all. If any senior leader of the party is seen to take part in the talks, then everybody will understand under what circumstances they did so,” said Nazrul, a pro-Khaleda leader.

In this connection, he referred to the BNP Standing Committee’s October 29 controversial meeting which some of its members were reportedly forced to attend.

With today’s talks with Saifur-led BNP faction, the EC would wrap up its dialogue with political parties, and send its electoral reform proposals to the caretaker government to make those into laws.

The Saifur-led faction, which was also invited on November 5 last year to sit with the EC on November 22, has completed its preparations for the talks.

Sources in the faction said they don’t have any major objections to the EC’s reform proposals.

The EC started talks with political parties on September 12 last year and was supposed to complete the process in November last year, according to the electoral roadmap announced by it. But it could not complete the talks within the timeframe due to the nagging BNP issue.

The EC’s November 5 invitation to Saifur-led faction for reform talks had triggered widespread controversy as Saifur loyalists are reportedly enjoying the blessings of the military-backed caretaker government.

The EC however could not hold any reform talks with BNP so far as the High Court (HC) on November 18 last year ordered a stay on the November 5 invitation following a writ petition filed by Khaleda Zia. The HC recently ruled that the writ was not maintainable, clearing the way for talks with the party.

On April 22, the EC again invited Saifur-led BNP faction for talks as its move to reunite the party failed.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) ATM Shamsul Huda on April 17 said the EC wanted to sit with a united BNP, and did not want to deal with factions. It however sits today with a faction of the party.

SECURITY FOR TALKS
The EC held talks with 15 other political parties twice since September 12 last year. But no additional police forces were deployed to ensure law and order during the talks.

But this time the police authorities planned to step up security during talks between the EC and Saifur-led BNP faction since its rival faction is annoyed, sources mentioned.

Asked about the security measures, Deputy Commissioner, Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Mahbubor Rahman said necessary measures will be taken to ensure law and order.