4-party demands fresh JS poll schedule

The BNP-led four-party alliance has demanded declaration of fresh schedule for the ninth parliamentary election and implementation of its seven-point demand including complete withdrawal of the state of emergency.
Heads of the component parties of the alliance decided at a meeting last night to wait until a specific time for implementation of their demands. They will decide the next course of action if the government fails to meet those.
Although the meeting was held to decide on participating in the December 18 parliamentary polls, the alliance leaders could not reach a consensus on the issue.
Top leaders of the BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party (BJP), Islami Oikya Jote (IOJ-Amini) and Khelafat Majlish attended the meeting held at BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office and chaired by the BNP chief.
"The poll schedule the Election Commission announced on November 2 rather hurriedly is not favourable for us to participate in the election and it indicates the commission's negative role," BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain told reporters after the meeting.
"The schedule is also not conducive to holding a free, fair and credible election," he added.
"We will wait for a certain period and will fix our next course of action if the government fails to meet our demands," he said.
Delwar, however, would not specify the date.
Asked if the four-party alliance will participate in the election in case the schedule is not changed, Delwar said, "We have made it very clear: Let them [the Election Commission] judge whether it is possible or not to take part in the election within this short time."
The three-hour-long meeting asked the government to create congenial atmosphere for the election fulfilling the alliance's demands.
Meeting sources confirmed that at the meeting Jamaat, the key ally of BNP in the alliance, placed the decision taken in principle by its highest policymaking body Majlish-e-Shura to take part in the election.
The IOJ-Amini also placed its decision in favour of participating in the election while the BJP opposed it.
Khaleda also told the alliance leaders that the atmosphere prevailing in the country is not congenial to going for election, meeting sources told The Daily Star last night.
She said the government is yet to meet any of their seven-point demand which, she thinks, is necessary for ensuring a free and fair election participated by all.
Jamaat suggested not giving any announcement of boycotting the election.
At the end of the meeting Khaleda asked her alliance colleagues to get prepared for the election.
At the briefing, Delwar alleged that the Election Commission declared the polls schedule without meeting the demands of the alliance and ensuring a level-playing ground.
"We are very much interested to participate in the election but that election has to be free, fair and credible," he said.
Delwar also alleged that the caretaker government wants to form a "rubber stamp" parliament and a "puppet" government to serve the purpose of a certain quarter. "But we cannot let it happen," he added.
Jamaat Ameer Motiur Rahman Nizami and Secretary General Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid, BJP Chairman Andaleev Rahman Partho and Secretary General Shamim Al Mamun, IOJ Chairman Fazlul Haq Amini and Secretary General Abdul Latif Nezami, among others, attended the meeting.