Govt holds crucial talks with BNP, Jamaat today

The military-controlled interim government will hold crucial electoral dialogues with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
and its ally Jamaat-e-Islami separately today.
The much awaited dialogue with the BNP is scheduled to start at 11:00am at the Chief Adviser’s Office and with the Jamaat-e-Islami at 3:00pm at the same venue.
The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, is unlikely to lead the party delegation to the talks although the government has invited her personally to the dialogue.
Asked whether Khaleda Zia would lead the party team to the talks, BNP spokesperson Nazrul Islam Khan told New Age Monday afternoon, ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain will lead the BNP delegation’, he added.
Jamaat-e-Islami assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman said the party would set up the delegation this [Tuesday] morning.
Chief adviser’s press secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told New Age Saturday that the chief adviser, Fakhruddin Ahmed, would lead the government team to the talks with the two parties.
Five government advisers Ghulam Quader, AFM Hassan Ariff, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, Anwarul Iqbal and Hossain Zillur Rahman are expected to assist the chief adviser at the dialogues.
Khandaker Delwar and his counterpart in Jamaat Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojahid discussed the dialogue agenda at the former’s home Sunday night.
Both BNP and Jamaat are expected to place almost ‘identical agendas’, according to sources in the parties.
According to the draft BNP agenda, the party delegation will ask the government to ensure an atmosphere conducive to holding free and fair parliamentary elections with participation of all political parties, scrap the amendments to the Representation of People Order 1972, lift the state of emergency immediately, defer the dates of upazila elections by a rational length of time after the Jatiya Sangsad elections, withdraw all ‘false’ cases filed against the party leaders, including chairperson Khaleda Zia, and release of party leaders from jail.
The government hopes that the outcome of the crucial dialogues will be positive, according to advisers Hossain Zillur Rahman and Anwarul Iqbal.
‘The government is confident that the dialogues will be fruitful, positive and constructive’, said Hossain Zillur. Anwarul Iqbal echoed him.
The government started the formal dialogues with political parties on May 22 after a panel of advisers held ‘informal’ negotiations with them apparently in a bid to bridge the gap created by the anti-corruption drive targeting mainly the political leaders.
The government held hectic negotiations to bring the tow major parties –Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party – to the table for dialogues after they initially refused to sit with the interim administration with their leaders – Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia – behind bars.
Eventually, the two leaders were released from jail – Hasina by an executive order and Khaleda on bail.
The chief adviser-led panel so far held meeting with 28 groups, including political parties, business and civic groups, and grassroots level representatives.
Its latest meeting was with grassroots people in Sirajganj and Rajshahi on July 30.
The government wanted a consensus on certain national issues, including political and economic ones, for smooth transition to democracy and post-election stability. Most of the parties have asked the government to lift the state of emergency to create an atmosphere conducive to participatory polls.
The government’s dialogue with the Awami League ended inconclusively with both sides agreeing on another round of talks to narrow the differences over political and constitutional issues.
The pending meeting with the AL is expected to be held shortly, said an official at the Chief Adviser’s Office.