The Awami League and Jatiya Party are holding negotiations behind the
scenes though the JP has announced it will not contest the 10th general
elections because of its being non-inclusive and lack of proper
atmosphere.
Influential leaders of AL and JP confirmed the negotiations and told New
Age that they were hopeful about the polls even if it required
rescheduling of the election.
Ershad on Friday night told newsmen that three of his ministers,
including Rawshan Ershad, at a meeting with prime minister Sheikh Hasina
on Thursday had requested that the polls schedules be changed. The move
followed a series of events after the JP’s announcement that it was
going to boycott the election scheduled for January 5 and
resignation of all six ministers and an adviser.
As part of the negotiation, Awami League has, meanwhile, offered to look
into the cases pending with the court against Ershad, 70 seats and some
other facilities, some top JP leaders said.
`Discussion is going on. There is nothing final in politics. We are
hopeful that Ershad will contest the election,’ senior Awami League
leader Amir Hossain Amu, also the minister for land, told New Age on
Friday night. ‘Date for submission and withdrawal of nomination papers
would be changed in line with the demand of Ershad,’ Amu said.
`Jatiya Party is holding discussions with the government over taking
part in the polls,’ JP secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader, also
minister for civil aviation, told newsmen on Friday at Ershad’s
Baridhara residence.
‘I see nothing wrong if we continue talks with the government for a
solution. We will not take any decision that goes against the country’s
interest,’ Ruhul Amin Hawlader said adding, ‘We do not want the process
of our tendering the resignations to be seen as something of a bad
precedence in history.’
The national flag was seen flying atop Hawlader’s residence at road 44,
Gulshan 2 in Dhaka on Friday afternoon. ‘I have stopped using the flag
on my car and so at my residence,’ claimed Hawlader who handed over his
resignation letter to Ershad on Thursday for submission to the
president.
Immediately after Hawlader’s disclosure of talks with the government,
water resources minister Anisul Islam Mahmud requested him not to make
comments to the media over it,’ a source close to Hawalader told New Age
Friday evening. Hawlader assured Mahmud that he would not do so any
more. Two hours later, Ershad claimed that what Hawlader had said about
negotiations with the government was baseless. Ershad also claimed that
he had no discussions either with the government or with the
opposition.
New Age visited the Gulshan residence of Mahmud, also JP presidium
member, on Friday and found the national flag hoisted but he declined to
talk. On Friday Ershad said that Mahmud and Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu would
hand over their resignations to him.
New Age also visited the Gulshan residence of prime minister’s adviser
and JP presidium member Ziauddin Bablu and found the national flag
hoisted. He also declined to talk to New Age.
Ershad on Wednesday told newsmen that he would commit suicide if anyone
forced him to revise his decision to boycott the polls but on Friday he
denied the statement and blamed the media for misquoting him.
Talking to newsmen at his Baridhara residence on Friday morning, Ershad
claimed that the media had misquoted him that he had threatened to
commit suicide. On Thursday, a general diary was filed with the Gulshan
police against Ershad’s threat to commit suicide.
‘The media misquoted me. Actually I wanted to say that death would be my
only destiny if the government plays any tricks or forces me to revise
my decision to boycott the polls,’ Ershad claimed.
‘I have noticed too many law enforcers and intelligence men inside and
outside my residence and I feared that they might force me to revise my
decision,’ he said.
On the night of December 4, Ershad told newsmen that he would commit
suicide if the government played any tricks or put any pressure on him
to revise the decision to boycott the polls and retract the resignation
of JP ministers. The video footages and audio records of the word
‘suicide’ that Ershad had uttered are available with the media.
Ershad on Friday again claimed that Rawshan, Anisul and Ziauddin would
hand over their resignation letters to him soon. Resignation letters of
four ministers and state ministers have been given to Rawshan who has
been assigned to submit the letters to the president. (source)