Govt talks in vain as BNP, AL won't budge

Fiver advisers of the caretaker government -- Hossain Zillur Rahman, Anwarul Iqbal, AF Hassan Ariff, Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader and Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury -- held a meeting with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia at her Gulshan party office yesterday.Photo: STAR

The government's renewed scramble for reaching an all party consensus about the parliamentary poll date failed to produce any result yesterday as BNP stuck to its demand for postponing the poll at least until mid-January next year while Awami League-led alliance refused to accept any date past the year end.
After the inconclusive parleys Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told The Daily Star last night, "We will sit with the chief adviser again tomorrow to chart our next course of action."
Before last night's meetings, the delegation of advisers met the chief adviser in his office.
The military backed caretaker government jumpstarted the fresh parleys yesterday in a bid to hold the stalled ninth parliamentary election with participation of all parties, following a 48-hour ultimatum from BNP-led four-party alliance the night before, for meeting its four-point demand to facilitate its participation.
Instructed by Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, a delegation of five government advisers last night met separately with a team of BNP representatives led by the party's Chairperson Khaleda Zia, and then with a delegation of Awami League (AL)-led 9-party coalition and Jatiya Party (Ershad) led by AL President Sheikh Hasina.
AL-led 14-party coalition got reduced to 9-party coalition recently due to gradual falling out of its components.
BNP insiders said the government side last night wanted to reschedule the December 18 parliamentary election for December 28, lift the emergency after all nominations are submitted by a new deadline of November 27, and was ready to review clause 91(e) of the amended Representation of the People Order, but BNP did not concede while stopping short of snuffing the idea outright.
After the inconclusive meeting with BNP, the government advisers met with the delegation of 9-party and JP where they informed the parties about the stalemate at the previous meeting.
In reply AL President Sheikh Hasina-led delegation said under no circumstances the parliamentary election should be deferred past the year end, according to meeting sources.
But, AL Presidium Member Matia Chowdhury told The Daily Star after the meeting, "We told them that we want the election to be held on December 18."
The leaders of 9-party and JP also said four-party's proposal for rescheduling the parliamentary poll is 'for creating an uncertainty and an environment of confrontation in the country', according to the sources.
They however asked the government advisers to meet the other three demands of four-party, which they said are their demands too.
"If they accept your proposal, then we may discuss the matter," Hasina said as the advisers told the meeting that BNP had rejected their proposals, according to a meeting source.
"They did not come with any proposal. They came just to inform us about another big party's position on the election," Matia told The Daily Star.
Referring to four-party's demand for ensuring that hajis will get to cast their votes, the AL-led delegation asked the advisers, what about making sure that 40,000 soldiers deployed in different parts of the world also get to cast their votes.
In a news briefing after the meeting between the advisers and the AL-led delegation both sides however only said 'they talked about holding the election properly'.
The four-party demands are: total lifting of the state of emergency, suspension of some 'objectionable' clauses in the amended Representation of the People Order (RPO) including repeal of clause 91(e), deferment of the December 28 upazila elections till one month from the parliamentary poll, and rescheduling of the parliamentary poll ensuring that the hajis will get to cast their votes.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Monday night put forward the demands saying that her party and its allies will take part in the election if the government meets all their demands within the next 48 hours.
At the talk with BNP the government advisers argued, if the parliamentary election is deferred till the next year the political climate might veer to a new direction which might not be desirable for any side.
Briefing journalists separately, both BNP and the government advisers said their meeting was very cordial and amicable despite its failure to reach a consensus. They also said last night's talk was not the final one and there will be more of that in the coming days.
Commerce and Education Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman told reporters that they discussed the four-party's four-point demand announced by its leader Khaleda Zia.
"She made a positive statement yesterday that BNP and its allies had decided to participate in the poll, but raised some issues too, and we have come here to discuss those," he said.
BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain echoed the adviser saying more discussions will follow.
"He has told us that the government wants to hold an election with participation of all parties," Delwar told reporters.
He reiterated that the BNP-led alliance is a parliamentary alliance. "We want to participate in the election, but it has to be free, fair and credible."
One of the advisers told The Daily Star in the first hour of today that rescheduling of the parliamentary poll is quite unlikely without a consensus between the two major political parties.
"Unless there is an agreement between the two parties, the election schedule will remain as announced. However, the five advisers are trying to mediate an agreement between the two top leaders," he said, requesting not to be named.
The adviser said the chief adviser instructed them to make maximum efforts to bring about an agreement between the two major parties.
"But that is proving to be very difficult," he said sounding exasperated and adding, the delegation of government advisers however have not lost hope and will continue their efforts for the sake of a sustainable democracy in the country.
"There is no last word in politics," he said.
Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, LGRD Adviser Anwarul Iqbal, Law Adviser AF Hassan Ariff, Communication Adviser Ghulam Quader, and Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury were in the government delegation, while BNP Standing Committee Member Dr Khadaker Mosharraf Hossain, and Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan were also among the BNP delegates.
AL leaders Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Matia Chowdhury and Syed Ashraful Islam, JP leaders Barrister Anisul Islam Mahmud and Ziauddin Bablu, 9-party leaders Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haque Inu, Mainuddin Khan Badal, and Nurul Islam were in the Hasina-led delegation.
DELWAR THREATENED TO LAUNCH MOVEMENT
Earlier, the BNP secretary general threatened to launch a movement if the government does not meet their demands.
"What is the problem with deferring the poll," he questioned while talking to reporters in his party's central office in Nayapaltan of the capital, adding, "The sky will not fall if the election is postponed to enable all parties to participate."
He also said it will not be possible for his party to submit nominations by November 20, the last date for filing those, so the government must take necessary steps to make sure they can submit their nominations.
JAMAAT PARLIAMENTARY BOARD MEETS TODAY
Meanwhile, although the BNP-led alliance demanded deferment of the December 18 election, its key component Jamaat-e-Islami is scheduled to hold its parliamentary board meeting today to finalise its list of nominees for the upcoming parliamentary poll.