Dhaka Correspondent

The government will decide when to withdraw the emergency

The interim government has not yet decided whether to withdraw emergency before the December elections, an adviser to the interim government said.

‘How can you be certain that the state of emergency is going to be withdrawn before the polls?… I cannot say at this moment whether the emergency will be withdrawn,’ the home affairs adviser, MA Matin, said on Sunday in reply to queries after a meeting with the heads of the law enforcement agencies on security issues for the ninth parliamentary elections and the third upazila polls.

He, however, hoped law and order would not deteriorate even if the state of emergency was withdrawn. ‘The government will decide when to withdraw the emergency.’

Matin made the statement at a time when major political parties are demanding a complete withdrawal of the state of emergency before the December 29 national polls. The government of Fakhruddin Ahmed assumed office a day after the state of emergency had been declared on January 11, 2007 on the heels of political unrest.

He said troops, besides paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles, Raid Action Battalion, policemen and Ansars personnel, would be deployed to keep order for a few days during the elections by the order of the Election Commission.

There will be a striking force along with policemen and Ansars personnel at each polling station to ensure security, he said.

‘The government is not solely responsible for keeping law and order. The responsibility also lies with political parties and people in general.’

In reply to a query, Matin said the main challenge the government was facing was to conduct the December elections in a free and fair manner.

He said the meeting discussed the issues of security for the VVIPs and VIPs, including former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the home secretary, Abdul Karim, said there would be 35,500 polling centres across the country and a three-tier security system would be arranged at each centre.

In addition to Bangladesh Rifles personnel, coast guards, Rapid Action Battalion members and about 13–15 members of the police and Ansars would deployed at each polling centre.

As for control of the striking force, the home secretary said a statutory order was being prepared with specific instructions as to how the forces would operate during the polls. ‘We have drafted the order today with the consent of the Election Commission.’

He said the home ministry would set up a control room four days before the elections to monitor law and order.

He said the police had been directed to ensure that culprits were arrested and the illegal arms recovered so that the national elections could be held in an atmosphere free of terrorism. ‘The police have been asked to make quality, not quantity, arrests.’

The ninth parliamentary elections will be held on December 29

The ninth parliamentary elections will be held on December 29 and the third upazila elections on January 22, the Election Commission announced on Sunday.

The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, in a jam-packed news conference after consultation with BNP and Awami League, announced the fresh polls schedules after the BNP-led alliance announced to contest the on condition of meeting three demands — complete withdrawal of state of emergency, nullifying section 91E of the representation of the people order and holding of upazila elections after one month of general elections.

According to the schedule for the national polls, the submission of nomination papers closes on November 30. The nomination papers will be scrutinised in December 3 and 4. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is December 11.

For the upazila elections, the submission of nomination papers closes on December 13. Nomination paper scrutiny has been scheduled for December 17-19. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is December 31.

Shamsul said the commission had to change the polls fixture for three times on reports from grassroots level that the time given to file the candidature was not enough for the candidates to provide necessary documents regarding information of eight categories.

‘Besides, the government was trying hard to bring the BNP-led alliance to elections and the commission also decided to discuss their latest demands and hold talks with them for past two days. We also talked to the great alliance and heard their version. Though none of them had any specific recommendation, we tried to reach an acceptable programme,’ Shamsul said.

Shamsuls said there was a demand from BNP-led alliance to nullify the section 91E of RPO but was not possible for the commission. ‘We thoroughly reviewed their apprehensions of probable misuse of the section and their fear of denying justice and talked to cross section of people and then reached to opinion that it should not be repealed. It also appeared to us that many of them may not study the section carefully and lack understanding about it,’ he said.

The chief election commissioner said earlier there were provisions to take action on verbal and written complaints and witnessing by the commissioners on any violation of electoral rules but this time the option verbal complaints has been removed.

‘There is no possibility of denying justice as the decision would be taken by the commission on majority of votes and if the defendant dislikes the decision, he would have the scope to go to the High Court,’ he added.

Shamsul said both the alliances emphasised on withdrawal of state of emergency although they said it was not duty of the commission but they asked us to make a strong recommendation to the government about lifting emergency. ‘And, we assured them that we recommend the government to lift emergency,’ he added.

Shamsul hoped the ninth Jatiya Sangsad and third upazila polls would be held in a festive mood with the participation of the people of all walks of life and the political parties will plunge into electioneering from Monday. ‘There is no scope to doubt over holding the elections,’ he said.

The chief election commissioner did not answer a question whether the upazila polls would be held during the regime of caretaker government or under the next government.

Other two commissioners Sohul Hossain and Sakhawat Hossain were also present at the briefing.

The 9th parliamentary polls scheduled for January 22, 2007 was cancelled amid widespread political turmoil.

The commission this time has registered 8,11,30,973 voters.

Hectic negotiation with BNP, AL

Photo: Advisers with Sheikh Hasina, BanglarChokh.

Photo: Advisers with Khaleda Zia, BanglarChokh.

The military-backed government and the political parties until Tuesday night failed to forge any consensus to reschedule the next month’s elections despite hectic negations, overt and covert, as the BNP’s 48-hour deadline expires tonight.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party rejected the government’s offer to reschedule the parliamentary polls by 10 days asking for at least a month deferral while the Awami League demanded holding the polls as per the schedule on December 18, leaders attending the government-political parties negotiation said.

The AL has no problem if the deadline for submission of nomination papers is delayed by a few days, they said adding that the party and its allies asked the government to hold the polls as per the schedule as it failed to convince the BNP.

‘The government conveyed us that it had offered the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to delay the voting date to December 28 from December 18, but they rejected the proposal,’ Rashed Khan Menon, a leader of the AL-led alliance said after the one-hour meeting between a five-member panel of advisers and the alliance leaders led by AL chief Sheikh Hasina Tuesday night.

Meeting sources said that Hasina asked the government hold the election on December 18 if it fails to settle the issue with BNP.

Earlier in the evening, the panel led by commerce adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman had meeting with the BNP chief Khaleda Zia who gave the interim government and the Election Commission 48 hours’ time, ending this evening, to accept the alliance’s four-point demands, if BNP is to join the polls.

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