The visiting UN assistant secretary general Oscar Fernández-Taranco on
Sunday inquired whether it was possible for the Election Commission to
defer the polls after political parties and civic forum leaders
preferred its rescheduling for an inclusive election.
The chief election commissioner, Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad, in reply to
Fernández-Taranco’s quiry said that it could defer the election
schedules by some days within the legal and constitutional framework if
the United Nations could broker an agreement between the ruling and
opposition camps.
A delegation of senior citizens also told Fernández-Taranco that the
process for holding a unilateral election on January 5 should be stopped
for a while and that still there was legal scope to defer the polls so
that the election could be held with participation of all parties.
The CEC after a meeting with Fernández-Taranco said two weeks had passed
since the election schedules were announced and the situation worsened
as there was no progress towards a consensus between the rival camps.
Rakibuddin said he thought many things could be done if there was a
consensus between the rival political parties but that should happen
under the legal frameworks.
‘As the UN delegation is holding talks with all the stakeholders to find
a way for a peaceful and inclusive election, we should not talk much
right at the moment. We, rather, should wait with a hope for a
solution,’ Rakibuddin told newsmen after his meeting with
Fernández-Taranco.
Senior jurist Kamal Hossain met Fernández-Taranco with a delegation of
senior citizens at Sonargaon hotel where they told the UN assistant
secretary general that ‘the train of a one-sided election should be
stopped for a while.’
Emerging from the meeting with Fernández-Taranco, the delegation
comprising senior jurist Kamal Hossain, jurist Shahdeen Malik, Citizens
for Good Governance secretary Badiul Alam Majumder and former caretaker
government adviser Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said the UN preferred an
inclusive election and had not offered any formula. It wanted a
homegrown solution to ensure a credible and non-violent election
participated by all political parties, they added.
The delegation members said Fernández-Taranco had some queries over the country’s situation and they tried
to explain but there was no discussion on caretaker government which was
the prime demand of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its
allies for joining the polls.
Two members of the delegation – Badiul Alam Majumdar and Shahdeen Malik –
said there was no discussion on caretaker government in their hour-long
meeting with Fernández-Taranco.
‘Nobody wants a one-sided election. What is happening now is
unexpected…We told them [UN team] that the train for holding a one-sided
election should be stopped for a while,’ said Kamal Hossain after the
meeting.
Kamal said Fernández-Taranco wanted to know whether it was possible to
defer the election schedule and in reply he said there was no legal bar
to rescheduling the polls. ‘The chief election commissioner several
times said he is ready to reschedule the polls if the parties reach an
understanding. He had referred to “reaching an understanding” thrice in
recent past,’ he added.
‘We need a peaceful election. We must have the patience to have a
peaceful election…They [UN] also want a peaceful and acceptable election
with the participation of all,’ Kamal said.
Shahdeen Malik said they wanted holding of a peaceful election with the
participation of all like the past one held on December 29, 2008 which
was contested by all parties and the turnout was above 87 per cent.
Jatiya Party secretary general ABM Ruhul Amin Hawlader said the party
had requested the United Nations to take initiatives for rescheduling of
the polls so that all political parties could participate.
‘Our chairman [Ershad] told the UN team that Jatiya Party would contest
the polls only if all political parties contest it,’ Hawlader told
newsmen immediately after a meeting between Jatiya Party and
Fernández-Taranco at the Baridhara office of HM Ershad.
‘Ershad reiterated that his party would contest the polls only if all
political parties participate in it,’ Hawlader told newsmen.
‘Jatiya Party wants the UN to play a role,’ Hawlader said but did not explain the nitty-gritty of the ‘role’.
‘Election is not possible right now as the atmosphere is not conducive,’
said party presidium member GM Quader, also the minister for commerce.
Fernández-Taranco also met the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, Pankaj
Saran, at the high commission in Gulshan in the afternoon.
He also met BNP vice-chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury in the evening at his house in Banani and talked for about an hour.
After the meeting, Shamsher, also a former secretary for foreign
affairs, told reporters that discussions were going on between BNP and
the visiting UN team. He declined to divulge the contents of their
discussion since ‘the matter is sensitive’.
Shamsher said that Fernández-Taranco had met BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia
on Saturday and would meet her again on Monday. ‘Nothing more can be
said right at the moment,’ he added.
A meeting between Fernández-Taranco’s and a Jamaat-e-Islami delegation
was scheduled for the day but it was postponed. Jamaat’s assistant
secretary general Abdur Razzaque said the meeting was postponed by the
UN.
Fernández-Taranco arrived in Dhaka on Friday evening amid the country’s
murky political situation that has cast a shadow on its January 5
general election.
The UN envoy had meetings with prime minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia Saturday evening. (source)