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PM alone knows about next step

Ministers resigned, yet sit for cabinet meeting Sunday; hartal respite likely next week for US official's visit

Staff Correspondent
To add another twist to politics, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has convened a cabinet meeting for Sunday, a week after all ministers submitted resignation letters to her to make way for the formation of an election-time administration.
The cabinet division yesterday sent necessary documents for the meeting to all the ministers, who keep doing their ministerial job amid widespread controversy over
their authority to do so and their current status after tendering resignation.
"The cabinet will sit on Sunday as the prime minister will be busy with the visiting Malaysian's prime minister on Monday [the usual cabinet meeting day]," Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told journalists at his secretariat office yesterday.
The decision has created curiosity and confusion among some of the lawmakers. Talking to The Daily Star, some of them
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wondered about Hasina's next move in forming the polls-time government, which is at the centre of the political standoff.
According to Awa mi League sources, party chief Sheikh Hasina alone knows the plan, parts of which she shares with some leaders very close to her.
Several senior party leaders said they had least idea about the size of the polls-time government or when it will be formed. They also cannot say for sure how many parties will finally join in.
" It may be formed shortly, but I do not know when," said AL leader Hasan Mahmud.
The PM may make it clear in the cabinet meeting, sources said.
Whenever formed, the interim administration is certain to suffer setbacks as the BNP-led opposition alliance has already planned for enforcing blockade or non-stop hartal after the Election Commission announces the polls schedule, likely towards the end of this month.
The 18-party alliance, however, may refrain from calling shutdown for the coming Sunday
and Monday as it had planned, thanks to the visit of an US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Desai Biswal, during the time, BNP insiders said.
She will arrive in Dhaka on Saturday on a three-day visit and is expected to meet government and opposition top brass to broker talks between them.
Dismayed at the BNP-led alliance's hartal during her visit in May, LIS under secretary of state for political affairs, Wendy R Sherman, criticised such shutdowns and cancelled her meeting with BNP chief Khaleda Zia.
"We will not make the same mistake this time. We want the government to open talks to resolve the political stalemate. And the US official will of course talk about it," a senior BNP leader told this newspaper.
Given the context, next week may offer some crucial developments, though senior ministers are still in the dark about what happens next.
Asked about Sunday's cabinet meet, some ministers said they did not know its purpose. After last week's cabinet meeting, many ministers claimed it was their last meeting.
AL Presidium Member Matia Chowdhury said she got a folder from the cabinet division but she did not have a clear idea about the meeting. Hasan Mahmud echoed her view.
Leaders are uninformed about the latest situation mostly because the party has not held meetings of its crucial bodies recently. The AL presidium, the highest policymaking body, last sat a couple of months ago. Its central working committee, the highest decision-making body, last sat on October 13, insiders said.
Meanwhile, the stance of Jatiya Party, a key component of the AL-led alliance, on the formation of the election-time government is also unclear to many AL leaders. If the JP refrains from joining it, the cabinet will only have members from among the AL and its two partners -- Workers Party and Jatiya SamajtantrikDal.
In an interview with a private television channel, JP chief HM Ershad said the election would not be acceptable if all the political parties did not participate in it.
"We will not take part in the forthcoming election if all the parties do not participate.
Joining the all-party polls-time government is meaningless if we do not participate in the polls," said Ershad, a former military dictator who was ousted in 1990 through a mass movement led by Hasina and Khaleda.
Ershad said his party was yet to decide on the matter, but added that chances of boycotting the polls and the interim administration were high.
RALLIES ON SATURDAY
The 18-party alliance last night decided to hold rallies across the country on Saturday, demanding the release of five BNP leaders arrested last week.
The announcement came after some BNP standing committee members met party chief Khaleda at her Gulshan office. Khaleda also spoke with some dignitaries, including former government officials, professors, journalists and lawyers.
After the meeting, former secretary Asafuddowla, who was among the dignitaries, told The Daily Star that Khaleda was waiting for a fresh call from the government side to hold talks over the crisis.