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Polls-time Govt

BNP places formula at JS, faces AL flak

Staff Correspondent
The BNP yesterday placed its proposal in parliament for forming a non-partisan polls-time government headed by a respected person chosen through consensus among the ruling and the opposition parties.
The main opposition party also demanded amending the constitution to implement the proposal.
The offer, however, was met with a scathing attack from the ruling Awami League MPs, who termed the proposal unconstitutional.
In protest, the opposition lawmakers staged a stormy walkout and did not join again.
The BNP-led opposition lawmakers returned to
the House yesterday, after remaining absent from it for 12 consecutive sittings. Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, however, did not join the session.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet colleagues and AL leaders have long been urging the BNP to join parliament and place its proposal on the mode of the election-time administration.
But the BNP chose not to do so, saying the onus was on the ruling party to amend the constitution to install a non-partisan government.
The opposition camp had also been asking the AL to take steps for holding talks to resolve the political crisis. But on Tuesday, it wrote to the AL, urging it to "I am placing the proposal for consideration of die prime minister to install the non-partisan caretaker government system through discussion," BNP lawmaker Jamiruddin Sircar told the House.
Hasina was not present at the time, but joined the session later.
"We hope the prime minister will accept it for the sake of peace and stability, and take effective steps for discussions between the two sides. The opposition leader and opposition MPs are sincerely urging the prime minister to take steps for talks," said Sircar, a former Speaker of parliament.
AL leaderTofail Ahmed thanked the opposition for placing a specific proposal in the House, but said the BNP should place the proposal following House rules so that there can be a discussion on it.
In a long statement, he also criticised the opposition's proposal and defended Hasina's proposal for forming an all-party polls-time government.
Tofail said Khaleda did not study the issue properly before making the proposal for picking 10 advisers for the election-time non-partisan administration from the two previous caretaker governments of 1996 and 2001. He said some of the former advisers have already died while some others are unable to take up new responsibilities because of advanced age.
Sircar, in his response, criticisedTofail for rejecting the opposition proposal. "We placed the proposal for consideration by the prime minister. Let her decide on it."
BNP lawmaker MK Anwar defended his party's proposal.
After him, AL MP Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim launched a blistering attack on former president and BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, the opposition
lawmakers left the House, about 45 minutes after joining it.
Later, AL MP Suranjit Sengupta said the BNP's proposal was against the basic structure of the constitution.
"You came up with an obsolete thing. There is nothing to reach a consensus on about your proposals. Let's hold talks on the prime minister's proposal,” he said.
In February 2006, Hasina, then opposition leader, herself placed the AL-led 14-party combine's electoral reform proposal in parliament.
Responding on Khaleda's behalf, the then LGRD minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan had said the government was ready to discuss ways to ensure that elections were free and fair.
“We are ready for discussion on any constructive suggestions as we too believe in striving for elections free from influence of black money and muscle power," Mannan had said.
At this point, AL lawmaker Mohammad Nasim had said the opposition expected a response from the prime minister, notfrom Mannan Bhuiyan.
After a series of events, the AL and the BNP finally opened talks in October the same year. But several rounds parleys between the BNP's then secretary general, Mannan Bhuiyan, and AL's then general secretary, Abdul Jalil, failed to break the deadlock as both the sides stuck to their guns.
This time too the prospects for talks seem high, especially after BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir sent a letter to AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Monday.
After receiving the letter, Ashraf thanked Fakhrul over the phone, but the AL has yet to formally respond to the letter.
As it looks now, the ruling party may come up with the proposal for holding talks on Hasina's offer for forming an all-party election-time government headed by Hasina.
But the BNP has made it clear that it would not
participate in an election under any form of government headed by Hasina.
This means although the prospects for talks are bright, the prospects for a solution are not.
Amid such a situation, the two rival camps are preparing to face off on the streets in the coming days.
Alongside urging the government to hold talks, the opposition alliance has been readying itself for street agitation, including holding a rally tomorrow by defying a police ban on political programmes.
“We, on behalf of the 18-party alliance, will start the rally before the BNP Nayapaltan office at 2:00pm on October 25, where the opposition chief Khaleda Zia will be present and will address the rally," Fakhrul said.
"We hope the government will lift the ban and cooperate with us in holding the rally peacefully," he told reporters at Khaleda's Gulshan office after a meeting with the general secretaries of the alliance components.
The meeting discussed ensuring a large gathering to make the rally a success. It also discussed the next course, sources said.
According to the sources, the opposition alliance may call a three-day hartal from October 27, if the government foils the rally.
Some leaders at the meeting, however, spoke in favour of going soft at the moment given the prospects of talks.
Meanwhile, following the walkout, Opposition Chief Whip Zainul Abdin Farroque told a press briefing that they were "disheartened" by the government's attitude.
He said that the prime minister and other top government figures had urged the BNP to place its proposal in parliament. But once it did, the ruling party MPs rejected it outright, thus proving that the AL wanted no consensus.