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AL, BNP talk finally

UN upbeat; Taranco extends stay by a day

Staff Correspondent
Finally, the ruling Awami League and the opposition BNP yesterday sat down to a discussion of the ongoing stalemate over the election, following hectic efforts by visiting UN envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, who termed it a positive development.
No major decision was made at the rare parley, but the two sides will meet again soon, said BNP Standing Committee Member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, who was at the meeting.
Taranco was present during the two-hour talks beginning at 2:00pm at the residence of the UN resident coordinator in the capital's Gulshan.
"The two parties have agreed to continue the talks on the polls-time government for holding a free, fair and inclusive election acceptable to all," said a BNP statement hours after the dialogue.
In another statement, the main opposition party demanded the immediate resignation of the election-time cabinet that Sheikh Hasina heads, to make way for the installation of a non-party government for holding a free and fair election.
"The people have rejected the polls schedule. The Election Commission has been a puppet of the government," said the statement signed by BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. He claimed the opposition's street agitation would be a sure success.
In a third statement, the BNP yesterday protested a news item of BBC Bangla service that on Monday said the UN was looking for ways to forge an accord between the AL and the BNP, keeping Sheikh Hasina as prime minister. "The news is politically motivated and false."
Contacted, top AL leaders told The Daily Star that they saw little prospect of any amicable solution to the impasse centring on the election, slated for January 5.
Moreover, the AL leaders rejected Taranco's proposal for limiting the prime minister's powers during the polls in efforts to build the confidence of the opposition, meeting sources said.
"We sat together for the sake of sitting," said an AL leader, who was at the meeting.
Meanwhile, the UN envoy extended his tour by a day, apparently to ensure that the two parties sit and talk. Taranco, assistant secretary general for political affairs at the UN, was originally scheduled to have a meeting with the PM at 4:00pm yesterday and wrap up his four-day visit by holding a press conference later. But the AL-BNP dialogue itself ended around 4:00pm.
"I have decided to extend my stay here in Bangladesh given the very positive developments that have been taking place," he later said in a statement.
According to his rearranged schedule, he will meet the PM at 10:30am today and brief the media in the afternoon.
Lauding yesterday's talks, Taranco said in the statement: "At the invitation of the United Nations Secretary-General, representatives of both parties have met and engaged in dialogue. Both parties have agreed to continue their
dialogue in a spirit of goodwill and compromise, and to work constructively together to decrease tensions and build confidence.
"Today represents an important moment in the current context."
According to him, the dialogue was "an answer to the expectations of the people of Bangladesh".
After the meeting, senior BNP leaders sat at party Chairperson Khaleda Zia's Gulshan office to discuss developments before issuing a statement dealing with the prevailing political situation.
The AL leaders too sat with party chief Hasina to brief her about the meeting.
Later in the evening, it issued a statement saying the meeting discussed the overall situation of the country.
On the BNP's demand for the release of its leaders, the AL said such a situation would arise only if the opposition men stopped their destructive activities, including killing, burning and other acts of sabotage, the statement said.
The BNP also raised in the meeting the issue of the polls-time cabinet, to which the AL said all issues, including the election-time government, would be discussed if the opposition stopped calling hartals and blockades and shunned violence, it added.
AL General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam led his party's delegation. Other members were Amir Hossain Amu, Tofail Ahmed and Gowher Rizvi.
Fakhrul led the BNP team that included Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Moyeen Khan and Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury.