BNP waits on talks result for registration
BNP and its major partner in the four-party alliance Jamaat-e-Islami will sit with the chief adviser to the caretaker government for dialogues on Tuesday, and they will also register with the Election Commission (EC) if the talks bear fruits.
BNP, which has been strongly opposing the amendments brought to the Representation of People Order (RPO) demanding total scrapping of them, came to the decision to register with the EC following Friday night's exclusive one-on-one between its Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Commerce Adviser Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman.
Talking to reporters in his Nam flat in the capital, BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain yesterday said if necessary they will formally request the EC to extend the deadline for party registration, but will take a decision about their own registration after Tuesday's talks with the government.
Sources within the government and BNP said the party's previous hardline stance softened up after the commerce adviser had apprised Khaleda of the current political scenario in its entirety and categorically told her that it will not be possible for any party to participate in the December 18 general election without being registered with the EC.
The government led by the chief adviser will have separate talks with BNP and Jamaat in the Chief Adviser's office, government sources said adding, although BNP and its allies are speaking about 'satisfactory outcome' of the dialogues, they will ultimately register with the EC abiding by the amended RPO.
BNP sources said the party's delegation to the talks will be led by Delwar.
"We will place our demands to the government during the talks and everything including registration will depend on the outcome of the dialogues," Delwar said.
Jamaat however decided to register with the EC within the October 15 deadline to qualify for contesting in the national election.
"If the EC doesn't extend the deadline then we will apply for registration within the time limit," Barrister Abdur Razzak, assistant secretary general of Jamaat, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Secretary General Abdul Latif Nezami of Islami Oikyo Jote, another component of BNP-led four-party alliance, said they will follow the alliance's decision, which is scheduled to meet this evening to finalise its position regarding party registration.
Meanwhile, the alliance will hold rallies across the country today in an effort to mount pressure on the government for meeting its five-point charter of demands.
Alliance sources said now the main aim of demonstrations will be to force the government to lift the state of emergency, and it will take a firm position on the issue during the talks.
BNP and its allies took preparations to gather a huge number of people in their rallies to show off their strength and popularity.
Delwar told the reporters that they will demonstrate today to realise their five-point demands, but there is no link between the demonstrations and the upcoming dialogues with the government.
Later at a discussion meeting organised by Jatiyatabadi Krishok Dal, the BNP secretary general said the people will not tolerate any plan to exclude BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia from the election and politics.
"If there is any plan to exclude her from the election process, that should be dropped," he said adding that they want a free and fair election with participation of all political leaders.
Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed will sit with BNP at 11:00am on Tuesday followed by his dialogue with Jamaat at 3:00pm.
The dialogues will be the first among the chief adviser, BNP, and Jamaat.
To finalise its dialogue strategy, BNP's dialogue preparation committee met yesterday in the office of its Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan in Dhanmondi, with Vice-chairperson MK Anwar, former lawmaker Abdul Mannan, and Office Secretary Rizvi Ahmed attending.
MK Anwar later told journalists that they will submit a report about the outcome of the meeting to the secretary general.
The issues that are likely to be discussed in Tuesday's dialogues include lifting of the emergency, deferment of the upazila polls, release of all detained political leaders, and ensuring a level playing field for all parties to participate in the election, Anwar said.
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