Hasina’s release, emergency lifting high on agenda

The Awami League is scheduled to sit with the government for talks today to resolve differences over a number of issues before the parliamentary polls.
The demands for permanent release of AL president Sheikh Hasina and withdrawal of the state of emergency before the polls are high on the agenda of the dialogue, scheduled to start at the Chief Adviser’s Office at 2:30pm.
The AL will reiterate at the talks that it will not contest the elections, scheduled for December 18, if Sheikh Hasina was not released permanently and unconditionally before the polls, party sources said.
AL’s acting president Zillur Rahman will lead the party delegation at its fourth round of talks with the interim government.
Earlier, the party held dialogues with the government on July 3 at the Chief Adviser’s Office, on June 11 at Sheikh Hasina’s Sudha Sadan residence hours after she was released from jail by an executive order for treatment abroad and on April 13 with five advisers to the interim government at the state guest house Meghna.
Talking with reporters on Wednesday, the party’s acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said they hoped that all the problems would be resolved through dialogue. ‘Both sides [AL and the government] want elections on time…There is no hesitation over holding parliamentary polls on time’, he said at his Sher-e-Bangla Nagar residence.
Party sources said that the AL leaders would ask the government to lift the state of emergency before the parliamentary polls, defer upazila polls, withdraw the ‘false and fabricated’ cases filed against Sheikh Hasina and cancel the delimitation of electoral constituencies. It will also renew its call for formation of a constitution commission.
The party will also ask the government to ensure a congenial atmosphere so that all political parties can contest the elections without any reservations and discuss ways to form an effective post-election parliament, the sources added.