A day after Opposition leader Khaleda Zia floated a formula for creating a neutral regime to oversee Bangladesh’s next general election, the BNP-led alliance on Wednesday asked the ruling Awami league to immediately hold a dialogue on the proposal.
“We call upon you to initiate steps to start a dialogue immediately on the matter,” BNP’s acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said in a letter sent to his Awami league counterpart Syed Ashraful Islam. A three-member BNP delegation handed over the letter to Asshraf, who immediately called Alamgir to acknowledge its receipt.
“Thank you very much (for the acknowledgement)...We hope you will come forward (to end the impasse) as we have,” Alamgir told Islam. Alamgir said Islam told him that he would take the letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who was on a tour of northwestern Dinajpur.
Awami league leaders said the party would brief media on its response to the BNP proposal on Thursday. Hasina suggested the formation of an all-party interim set-up for election oversight. Zia rejected Hasina’s proposal and floated a formula for forming a non-party caretaker regime.