League says it will ensure fair election

By Mizan Rahman/Dhaka

Dispelling newspaper reports that the ruling party is adamant on going ahead with the tenth parliamentary election without creating a level playing field, the Awami League yesterday said the party would do everything to ensure a fair election.

Joint general secretary Mahbub-ul Alam Hanif was speaking to journalists at his business establishment in Karwan Bazaar in Dhaka.

“We will do whatever is needed to ensure a free, fair and neutral 10th national parliament election and participation of all parties.”

He said dialogue between the two parties could be held in or outside the parliament.

Hanif’s comment came amid mounting pressure from different countries for the political parties to sort out the deadlock over a poll-time administration.

He also replied to Khaleda Zia’s statement that her party would not participate in any election held under incumbent Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

“They have been issuing threats all the time. Their threats are unfounded. All parties will participate in accordance with the Constitution. We expect BNP to take part in this election.”

The BNP has already announced that it would come up with a format of a poll-time administration soon. The ruling alliance lawmakers had asked the BNP to place its plan in parliament. The BNP has not yet responded to the call.

Hanif said they would wait until after the expiry of parliament’s tenure for the BNP to come and place its plan.

Donor countries or “development partners” have warned that they would not send any observer teams to monitor the tenth parliamentary election in Bangladesh unless there is a national consensus on conduct of elections.

Several newspapers Tuesday quoted diplomatic sources based in Dhaka as saying that foreign countries are annoyed and concerned over the political stalemate in Bangladesh and will not send polls observers to endorse any election without the participation of the major political parties.

Foreign countries do not wish to see any more uncertainty and street violence in Bangladesh that may hamper democracy and development, and cause suffering to common people, said some diplomats.

The United Nations, influential countries and donor agencies are unanimous in their view that the ruling and the opposition parties must engage in dialogue to resolve the crisis

 “As friends of Bangladesh, foreign countries and development partners want advancement of the country, but this time they might take harsh decisions if their appeal goes unheeded by the political quarters,” said a diplomat from an influential Asian country.

Several countries and agencies have already sent smaller but important teams to Bangladesh to get first-hand information about the pre-election situation.

A five-member European Union Election Exploratory Mission is already in Dhaka on a fortnight-long visit to assess the feasibility of sending an Election Observation Mission for the next general election.

Foreign missions in Dhaka, said diplomats are regularly sending reports to their respective headquarters about the pre-election atmosphere in Bangladesh, in which most of them expressed fears about a severe crisis ahead of the parliamentary polls.

The Daily Star Tuesday quoted a European diplomat as saying that his mission had received clear instructions from headquarters to convey to Dhaka the message that any unusual situation in Bangladesh is unwelcome, as they are accountable to their people, whose tax money constitutes the aid that comes to Bangladesh.

Recently, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself talked to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia and urged them to start a dialogue to resolve the political crisis in order to ensure a free, fair, credible and participatory election.

Earlier in December last year and May this year, Ban Ki-moon sent Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, assistant secretary general for political affairs at the UN, to Dhaka apparently to create the ground for a dialogue between the two major parties for a smooth transfer of power.

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday wrote to Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia urging the two leaders to engage in a constructive dialogue to find a way forward for a free, fair and credible election.

China, which hardly makes any political statement on the internal issues of another country, has also called on the two major political parties to open a dialogue to build confidence between them and resolve the current political  standoff.