Thaw in BNP-govt ties in the offing

Release of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman will help the caretaker government thaw relations with BNP and ensure its participation in talks and the election, said party insiders.
Following an 'understanding' between the two sides, the mother and son, detained on corruption charges, are now expected to be freed in less than a week, they added.
BNP leaders claim the way the military-backed administration had been treating them since January 11 last year was quite 'discriminatory', and led to a growing gulf between the party and the government.
BNP Vice-president MK Anwar, however, yesterday told reporters that their Chairperson Khaleda Zia would not be released on government orders, but through a legal process. Tarique will be freed once all papers on his bail reach the jail authorities.
Meanwhile, in an about-face in its stance on BNP factions, the Election Commission (EC) yesterday sent a letter to Khandaker Delwar Hossain, inviting him to talks on registration of the political parties. In the invitation, he was addressed as the BNP secretary general.
The time limit for registration with the EC ends on October 15.
Earlier, Major (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, a pro-reform leader and acting secretary general appointed by the standing committee at a controversial meeting on October 29 last year, had been invited by the commission to the dialogue on electoral reforms.
The pro-Khaleda faction had been left out at that time.
In another development, party sources say, well-wishers of the Zia family and the BNP faithful from abroad have expressed readiness to bear the cost of overseas treatment for Tarique.
There have been offers of help from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and some European nations.
Tarique, also senior secretary general, might in the end opt for Germany, said a highly placed source.
Khaleda's younger son Arafat Rahman Koko, who was released last month on executive orders, is now in Bangkok for treatment.
Arrested in March last year, Tarique has been undergoing treatment at a prison cell of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital.
If he is finally released and allowed to leave the country for treatment, it is quite unlikely that he will return home in the near future, a source close to the Zia family told The Daily Star last night.
Tarique has been granted bail in all 13 graft and extortion cases filed against him. Trial of the cases will continue like the way it is going on in the case of Awami League (AL) President Sheikh Hasina.
“So far, we have got seven bail orders in hand. We hope to receive the rest by Sunday afternoon,” Deputy Inspector General of Prisons Major Shamsul Haider Siddiqui told The Daily Star.
He added that the jail authorities will not delay Tarique's release once they receive the necessary papers.
One of the two major parties that dominate the country's political landscape, BNP has been in a shambles with most of its top leaders behind bars on graft charges.
According to some sources, it would join the dialogue and participate in both upazila and parliamentary elections following the release of Khaleda and Tarique.
The party boycotted the recent polls to four city corporations and nine municipalities, and has been strongly opposed to the plans for upazila polls before the national election under the state of emergency.
However, it might have a drastic shift in its stance on the election and dialogue now that release of its chairperson and senior joint secretary general seems in sight.
Sources in the administration said the government led by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is keen to ensure participation of all major political parties in the long-stalled parliamentary election planned for the third week of December.
As part of the efforts to that end, it has been trying to bridge the gap with BNP, whose participation is crucial to acceptability of the election.
Khaleda Zia, who has been detained in a sub-jail on Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban complex since her arrest in September last year, will leave for Saudi Arabia to perform Umrah within a couple of days of her release, her close aides said.
Before flying for the Middle Eastern country, she will stay at her cantonment residence.
“She is not going to be abroad for a long time,” said a source in regular contact with the Zia family.
The first thing she would do is bidding to unite the party factions. Expulsion orders of former secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan and ex-whip Ashraf Hossain might be scrapped to help regain unity, continued the source.
On return home, she will meet the rank and file in efforts to boost their morale.
The chairperson will also have to deal with Delwar issue. A good number of leaders do not want him to continue as the secretary general since they say he has failed miserably to keep the party united. She too is frustrated with his role in her absence, observed the source.