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Impossible Demands, 2005 Polls

AL 'designed' a boycott

Star Report
Awami League was laying the groundwork for an election boycott in 2005 making core demands — appointment of caretaker government advisers on consensus and a ban on war criminals from contesting the polls, according to a US diplomatic dispatch.
The US embassy in Dhaka sent the cable to Washington on July 18,2005 after the then main opposition AL placed 31 -point electoral reform proposals.
"Demanding consensus on caretaker regime appointments and banning war criminals from elections appears geared more to solidifying opposition ranks and ratcheting up political pressure than promoting a serious reform agenda," said the cable in summary.
It said the government might compromise on enhanced Election Commission capabilities, "but Sheikh Hasina, by making core demands she knows the BNP cannot accept, is laying the groundwork for an election boycott and, it seems, a campaign to replicate the 1996 protests that led to the demisting the first BNP government."
The cable said on July 15, AL and its 11-party coalition announced a 31-point "reform” package addressing the formation and powers of the caretaker government and the Election Commission (EC).
The then BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan criticised the reforms at a press conference, saying they were unnecessary, divisive, and aim to hinder the electoral process, the cable also said.
"PMO Principal Secretary Kamaluddin Siddiqui characterized the post-package political climate to CDA (charge d'affaires, as a 'gathering storm' over the 'stiffening' positions of both the AL and the BNP."
"The BNP, he said, is open to dialogue and possible compromise on minor points such as enhanced capabilities for the EC, but the idea of consensus on an important matter like caretaker adviser appointments in a land of hundreds of political parties is 'stupid'
Kamaluddin urged the US government, in partnership with the UK, to mediate the AL-BNP gulf and promote free and fair elections as it did sensitively and successfully in the last general election, the cable added.
The US embassy said when they asked AL two months ago if its pending proposal would allow minor parties to veto consensus decisions for caretaker regime appointments, "we were told that perhaps the proposal could be limited to parties in parliament.
"The AL, however, has apparently subordinated practicality to solidifying opposition ranks and setting the bar high enough for the BNP to ensure continued political stalemate," the cable added.
About AL's other electoral reform proposals, the US embassy wrote: "banning religion-based politics would require a constitutional amendment, is opposed by every parliamentary party except the AL, and is another apparent sop to the AL's leftist allies; Hasina, ironically, several days ago urged Islamic scholars to help un-seat the BNP-JI government."
It said the "war criminals" exclusion clearly targets Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, including its two serving ministers (Motiur Rahman Nizami for industries and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed for social welfare), whom AL has repeatedly denounced as war criminals.
"While the BNP might accept EC reforms, it cannot accept the core demands related to the caretaker system or that would effectively rob it, on nebulous extra-judicial grounds, of its
key coalition partner."
The cable said AL was laying the groundwork for an election boycott and a challenge to the legitimacy of a re-elected BNP.
"The BNP's retort that the AL should pursue its agenda in parliament seems hard to challenge, while the AL's refusal to end its boycott without preemptive BNP capitulation leaves it sounding increasingly strident and undemocratic," commented the US embassy.
Finally, the politics took a violent turn centring the appointment of the chief adviser of the caretaker government in October 2006 as the AL-led alliance vehemently refused to accept Justice KM Hasan as chief adviser.
Justice Hasan declined to accept the post of the chief adviser. But AL and BNP failed to reach a consensus on the appointment of the chief adviser.
On advice of BNR the then president lajuddin Ahmed assumed the office of the chief adviser. But the caretaker government led by lajuddin failed to ensure atmosphere conducive to holding free and fair parliamentary election. In protest, the AL-led grand alliance boycotted the ninth parliamentary polls scheduled on January22,2007.
In the wake of growing political turmoil, the then president declared the state of emergency on January 11, 2007 leading to postponement of the scheduled polls.