The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has not backed away
from its stand on a polls-time non-party neutral government, said the
party vice chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury on Tuesday.
Shamsher, who attended a meeting of the BNP and the ruling Awami League in presence of visiting UN
assistant secretary general Oscar Fernandez-Taranco on Tuesday
afternoon, told New Age that the BNP remained firm on its stand on a
polls-time non-party government.
In reply to a question, he said that the UN side did not give any
proposal for a polls-time govern-ment saying that the UN wanted the
people of Bangladesh would resolve its problem.
Asked about speculation that BNP might accept the president instead of
prime minister Sheikh Hasina as the head of the polls-time government,
Shamsher termed it misinformation.
The meeting between delegation of BNP and AL was a primary meeting for
creating an atmosphere conducive for a dialogue, according to a meeting
source.
At the meeting the BNP said that the election schedule needed to be
deferred and the detained opposition leaders and activists had to be
released for creating an atmosphere for discussion.
A four-member delegation of the BNP led by acting secretary general
Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and a four-member delegation of the AL led
by its general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam had a meeting at the
residence of the UN resident representative in Dhaka where both sides
agreed to continue the discussion over a polls-time government for
holding a free, fair and inclusive election acceptable to all. (source)