Polls-time Govt

BNP places formula at JS, faces AL flak

@Daily Star

The BNP yesterday placed its proposal in parliament for forming a non-partisan polls-time government headed by a respected person chosen through consensus among the ruling and the opposition parties.
The main opposition party also demanded amending the constitution to implement the proposal.
The offer, however, was met with scathing attack from the ruling Awami League MPs, who termed the proposal unconstitutional.
In protest, the opposition lawmakers staged a stormy walkout and did not join again.
The BNP-led opposition lawmakers returned to the House yesterday, after remaining absent from it for 12 consecutive sittings. Party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, however, did not join the session.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, her cabinet colleagues and the AL leaders have long been urging the BNP to join parliament and place its proposal on the mode of the election-time administration.
But the BNP chose not to do so, saying the onus were on the government to amend the constitution to install a non-partisan government.
The opposition camp had also been asking the AL to take steps for holding talks to resolve the political crisis. But on Tuesday, it wrote to the AL, urging it to open talks on BNP’s proposal unveiled by Khaleda Zia the day before.
“I am placing the proposal for consideration of the prime minister to install the non-partisan caretaker government system through discussion,” BNP lawmaker Jamiruddin Sircar told the House.
Hasina was not present at the time, but joined the session later.
“We hope, the prime minister will accept it for the sake of peace and stability, and take effective steps for discussion between the two sides. The opposition leader and opposition MPs are sincerely urging the prime minister to take steps for talks,” said Sircar, also former Speaker of parliament.
AL leader Tofail Ahmed thanked the opposition for placing a specific proposal in the House, but said the BNP should place the proposal following House rules so that there can be a discussion on it.
In a long statement, he also criticised the opposition’s proposal and defended Hasina’s proposal for forming an all-party polls-time government.
Tofail said Khaleda did not study properly before making the proposal for picking 10 advisers for the election-time non-partisan administration from the two previous caretaker governments of 1996 and 2001. He said some of them already died while some others are unable to take responsibility because of their advanced age.
But Sircar then criticised Tofail for rejecting the opposition proposal. “We placed the proposal for consideration of the prime minister. Let her decide on it.”
BNP lawmaker MK Anwar defended his party’s proposal.
After him, AL MP Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim launched a blistering attack on the opposition. As he spoke, the opposition lawmakers left the House.
Later, AL MP Suranjit Sengupta said BNP’s proposal were against the basic structure of the constitution.
“You came up with an obsolete thing. There is nothing to reach a consensus about your proposals. Let’s hold talks on the prime minister’s proposal,” he said.
In February 2006, Hasina, then opposition leader, herself place the AL-led 14-party combine’s electoral reform proposal in parliament.
Responding on Khaleda’s behalf, the then LGRD minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan had said the government was ready to discuss ways to ensure that elections are free and fair.
“We are ready for discussion on any constructive suggestions as we too believe in striving for elections free from influence of black money and muscle power,” Mannan had said.
At this point, AL lawmaker Mohammad Nasim had taken the floor and said the opposition expected a response from the prime minister, not from Mannan Bhuiyan.
After a series of events, the AL and the BNP finally opened talks in October the same year. But the several rounds parleys between BNP’s then secretary general, Mannan Bhuiyan, and AL’s then general secretary, Abdul Jalil, failed to break the deadlock as both the sides stuck to their guns.
This time too the prospects for talks seem high, especially after BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir sent a letter to AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam on Monday.
After receiving the letter, Ashraf thanked Fakhrul over the phone, but the AL has yet to formally respond to the letter.
As it looks now, the ruling party may come up with the proposal for holding talks on Hasina’s offer for forming an all-party election-time government headed by Hasina.
But the BNP has made it clear that it would not participate in an election under any form of government headed by Hasina.
This means although the prospects for talks are bright, the prospects for solutions are not.
Amid such a situation, the two rival camps are preparing to face off on the streets in the coming days.
Alongside urging the government for holding talks, the BNP-led opposition alliance has been readying itself for street agitation, including holding of a rally tomorrow defying a police ban on political programmes in the capital.