Bangladesh News

BNP yesterday decided to join the talks with the president on forming the next Election Commission.

The decision came from a BNP-led four-party alliance meeting last night just hours after the main opposition got an invitation letter from President Zillur Rahman.

“We’ve taken the decision to join the dialogue after discussion among the alliance components”, BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told The Daily Star last night.

Ruling Awami League also received the same invitation from the president yesterday, confirmed party sources.

AL has been scheduled to join on January 12, and BNP the day before.

Two other components of four-party alliance — Bangladesh Jatiya Party, and Islami Oikya Jote — were also invited. BJP has been scheduled to join on January 2, and IOJ the day before.

But Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a key component of the four-party alliance, will not be invited due to the party’s many leaders’ involvement in war crimes during the country’s Liberation War in 1971, Bangabhaban sources said.

In the four-party alliance meeting last night it was decided BNP will tell the president that no Election Commission will be able to work neutrally under a partisan government, no matter how much strengthened the commission is.

It was also decided that BNP will create a draft of the proposals and distribute it among its alliance partners before finalising it, so that a united voice of the alliance is heard at the talks, meeting sources said.

“It was decided that BNP will request the president to invite Jamaat-e-Islami to the talks as well, since it is also a political party registered with the EC, and has representation in the parliament,” Abdul Latif Nezami, secretary general of IOJ, told The Daily Star last night.

BNP had earlier raised questions about the “motive” of the president’s talks, with some of its senior leaders voicing opposition to joining the talks.

Asked what prompted the change of heart now, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We still have the old demands, but we’ve now decided to place it to the president in person during the dialogue.”

“You will know more about the reasons after we return from the talks,” he added.

Nezami said BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who chaired last night’s four-party alliance meeting, was for joining the dialogue because the invitation came from the country’s president which is the highest constitutional post.

YESTERDAY’S TALKS
Meanwhile, the president yesterday told two separate delegations of Workers Party and Jatiya Party-JP that he will ask the government to enact a law in line with the constitution that will require formation of a “search committee” to find appropriate persons from among whom the chief election commissioner and the other election commissioners will be appointed.

While holding talks with WP, a component of AL-led grand alliance, and Jatiya Party-JP at Bangabhaban, the president however said enacting the proposed law is a time consuming matter, meeting sources said.

During the talks, Zillur Rahman urged the leaders of the two parties to submit names of “honest, patriotic, competent and democratic minded” persons to him, who could be appointed as the CEC and other election commissioners.

“We proposed to enact a law in line with our constitution under which a search committee will be formed. The committee will find competent and honest persons and will place their names before the parliament’s Business Advisory Committee, which will create a short list and submit it to the president,” Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon told reporters emerging from the hour long talks.

The eight-member delegation of the party also told the president that though the constitution directs to enact a law regarding formation of the EC, it has not been enacted in the past 40 years.

“We’ve told the president about the significance of enacting the law,” Menon said.

“We also told the president that since enacting the law will require time and the parliament is not in session now, the government could promulgate an ordinance to that effect for now,” he added.

Menon also said they told the president that they will submit a list of names of “competent and patriotic” people to him at a later time.

Led by its Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, the twelve-member Jatiya Party-JP delegation told the president that they will also submit some names later.

But they also told the president that he should, for now, go ahead and form the next EC by himself on consultation with the prime minister.

On Thursday the president held the first round of talks with HM Ershad-led Jatiya Party, and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. He sought names from them also.

On expiry of the tenure of the present EC in early February, the president, on advice of the prime minister, will have to appoint a chief election commissioner and other election commissioners to form the new EC.

Against such a backdrop, the president started the talks with political parties on Thursday, seeking their opinions on the matter.

TODAY’S TALKS
Liberal Democratic Party is scheduled to join the dialogue at Bangabhaban at 11:00am today.

The LDP delegation will be led by its Chairman Col (retd) Oli Ahmed.

Party insiders said Oli Ahmed on Sunday met BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in her Gulshan office to talk about the dialogue.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh is also set to join the dialogue at 12 noon today.