BNP toys with two proposals
The BNP is working on two specific ideas regarding the formation of a 10-member non-party caretaker government that will be at the helm at the next general election.
The ideas of the BNP revolve around the non-party caretaker government system, which its rival, the ruling Awami League, is opposed to.
The first idea the BNP has is forming the caretaker government with 10 former justices of the Supreme Court, said party insiders.
The other idea is to form the caretaker government with 10 eminent personalities. In that case, the Awami League and BNP each would nominate five people each who have no political affiliation.
In both cases, a former chief justice acceptable to both camps would be leading the caretaker government, BNP insiders said.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina recently proposed a “small government” which would have BNP representatives as well to supervise the election.
The BNP has rejected the idea outright. The party demands the restoration of the caretaker government system.
The Awami League spearheaded the abolition of the caretaker government system in parliament last year following a court ruling in this regard.
BNP insiders said their chairperson Khaleda Zia might unveil ideas after Eid to mount pressure on the government to amend the constitution again and restore the non-party caretaker government system.
“The prime minister and some senior ministers frequently ask for our proposal on the caretaker government. We are working on it and hopefully a proposal will be made public soon,” said a senior BNP leader asking not to be named.
BNP standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman said they discussed the prime minister's small-cabinet proposal at their committee meeting.
“But we rejected her idea and reiterated our stance that a non-party neutral caretaker government system was a must for holding a credible election,” he said.
Standing committee meeting sources, however, said the BNP policymakers also discussed their own thoughts on a possible caretaker government system.
They were of the view that the abolished caretaker government system had too many flaws and it could do with a few tweaks to make it more effective and fault free.
A military backed caretaker government, which came to power in January 2007, following political unrest, remained in office for two years claiming that there was no fixed tenure for an interim government.
Top BNP policymakers believe that nominating advisers for the caretaker government was a big challenge.
According to them, the nominations have created problems in the past. They think having all the advisers from former justices is the safer way to go.
In 2006, the then chief adviser President Iajuddin Ahmed had appointed some advisers to a caretaker government but the Awami League hadrejected those appointments, branding them BNP men.
BNP policymakers believe that if keeping the judiciary men out of the caretaker government was acceptable to all, then the Awami League and BNP could appoint five people each to form the 10-member advisory council of the government.
“The BNP and Awami League can nominate five neutral persons for the advisory council, if the Awami League high up agree to it,” said a member of the BNP standing committee.
But the BNP chairperson said that the proposal would be finalised after further discussions, standing committee meeting sources said, adding that everything would depend on the attitude of the ruling Awami League government.
Comments