Caretaker talks anywhere, anytime: AL

Dhaka, June 17 (bdnews24.com) ? The Awami League general secretary has said his party is ready to discuss the caretaker issue with the opposition BNP anytime, anywhere ? in or outside parliament.

Syed Ashraful Islam on Friday told a press briefing that his party did not want to take decisions unilaterally. "We'll wait until the end."

"We're hopeful that [BNP chairperson] Khaleda Zia will discuss the issue. We're ready to discuss it anywhere in or outside parliament," he said.

The press briefing was held at the Dhanmondi office of the party president, prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

"Letter will be issued formally, if they want. The letter can be sent within [Saturday], if necessary," he added.

Syed Ashraf, however, said the next general election would be held after amending the constitution in line with the court verdict if BNP did not join discussion.

"Khaleda Zia will not be able to oppose then. It'll be a democratic process," he said.

This is a major shift in the party's position that had so far maintained that opposition must come back to parliament to talk the contentious issue.

The Awami League president, prime minister Sheikh Hasina, recently asked the BNP to join parliament and place an 'alternative formula'.

The opposition maintain that they would not join the next general elections without a caretaker government in place.

Khaleda at a press conference on Thursday rejected the proposal for discussion.

She said: "She [Hasina] keeps saying over and over something that is not there in the verdict. The verdict says 'the Constitution (13th Amendment) Act. 1996 (Act 1 of 1996) is prospectively declared void and ultra vires the constitution'. Which means the system is not void yet.

"The verdict will be effective only after holding of the next two elections under the caretaker system. This is, in fact, mentioned in the latter part of the verdict," she added.

If the caretaker provision is retained, the former prime minister said, she was willing to join such discussions either 'inside or outside parliament'.

The Supreme Court on May 10 repealed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that introduced the caretaker government, but said the next two general elections could be held under unelected rulers.

The special parliamentary committee on charter review has proposed to cancel the system.

Syed Ashraf's unconditional offer came a day before a belligerent BNP was scheduled to announce a new course of campaign including possibly another round of nationwide shutdown.

BNP, along with its key ally Jamaat-e-Islami staged two general strikes demanding that the system be retained.

Only last week, BNP enforced a 36-hour lockdown throughout Bangladesh, the first such harsh antigovernment campaign since the Awami League returned to power two and a half years ago.

'MISINTERPRETATION BY KHALEDA'

Syed Ashraf termed Khaleda's speech 'self-contradictory, false and the worst example of political opportunism'.

Khaleda had said Hasina was puzzled with the court verdict. She said there might be discussion with the government only if the declaration to retain the caretaker government system came.

"Not only this, she also tried to misinterpret Supreme Court verdict which amounts to contempt of court," he said.

The local government minister added, "Khaleda Zia in her speech said the caretaker government system was not declared scrapped or illegal in the Appellate Division verdict.

"Not following the main verdict, she has spoken of its observations. She misinterpreted the observation as the main verdict," he added.

Syed Ashraf went on: "Basically, it was said in the observation that the next two general elections may be held under caretaker governments. The words 'may be held' were clearly mentioned in the observation."

"She wants to turn 'may be' into 'must' forcefully. She wouldn't have made this mistake if she had the least knowledge of English."

The scathing remark aside, Syed Ashraf said the opposition chief had made some positive remarks at the press briefing.

"Khaleda Zia said there might be discussion with the government on who will be the next caretaker government chief, and having an impartial Election Commission and administration," he said.

"She will join discussion on caretaker government issue, too. With my political experience, I can say that she will join the discussion finally."

"She has no way other than discussion," Syed Ashraf said. "In the last parliamentary elections, she said 'no' to every issue, including transparent ballot box and voter list with photos. But finally she said 'yes' to all and joined the elections."

About the apex court observation that if parliament wants, the next two general elections could be held under caretaker governments, Ashraf said, "We're trying to take a decision about all the issues through discussion with the opposition because of this [the observation]."

SHE'LL AGREE WHEN SHE UNDERSTANDS

The AL general secretary said BNP harmed people by calling hartal instead of joining discussion. "The sooner the discussion is held, the better it is for the nation."

About BNP's stance against -electronic voting, he said, "Khaleda Zia said 'no' to electronic voting without understanding anything. She will say 'yes' when she understands."

The prime minister has opined in favour of using electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the next general elections.

The Election Commission trialled EVMs during local government elections in some centres.

The EVM issue is one of the five that are being discussed in the on-going dialogues between the commission and the registered political parties.

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said it would accept voting with EVM if finger prints were included. Abdul Kader Siddiqui-led Krishak Sramik Janata League expressed reservations about electronic voting.

Hussein Muhammad Ershad's Jatiya Party said e-voting should not be launched now while Anwar Hossain Manju-led Jatiya Party (JP) backed the prime minister.

Rashed Khan Menon-led Workers Party opined in favour of launching e-voting in some centres alongside voting in conventional system.

Awami League and BNP are yet to join the dialogues.

BARBED-WIRE FENCING

Syed Ashraf denied BNP's claim that they were not given chance to speak in parliament. "Stop lying and join the house by getting to the real world."

He also ruled out another allegation of the opposition that BNP leaders and activists were being barred to enter the party's headquarters at Naya Paltan.

"The Awami League office at Bangabandhu Avenue was surrounded with barbed-wire fences during BNP's tenure," he said.

The Awami League general secretary said, "Hawa Bhaban was the centre of every corruption and militancy during BNP's tenure. The new building at Gulshan will become a new Hawa Bhaban if the party takes power again."

"People won't believe that Khaleda, with Jamaat-e-Islami on one side and [Fazlul Haque] Amini on the other, will establish democracy," he said.

He claimed no BNP leader had been assaulted by the government in past two and a half years.

Awami League joint general secretary Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif and organising secretary Ahmad Hossain were present at the press briefing.

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