President-oppn meeting minutes sent to govt
The BNP-led 18-party alliance on Thursday threatened to launch another spell of countrywide hartal if the government failed to initiate talks with the Opposition to end the stand-off within a couple of days. Apparently irked over the government’s reluctance for a compromise, senior Opposition leaders threatened to intensify their agitation. “This time, the hartal will be of a much longer duration,” BNP standing committee member Brig (retd) Hannan Shah said.
President of JAGPA, an ally of the BNP, Shafiul Alam Pradhan said: “The initial plan is to call a 96-hour hartal from Monday to Thursday if there is no sign of a government initiative by Sunday.”
BNP standing committee member Khaldakar Mosharraf Hossain added that an indefinite hartal, non-cooperation movement or laying siege programme will be announced anytime if the President did not take any measures or if the government did not respond to the President’s call for taking steps to reach a compromise. “We are waiting to see what steps the President takes or how the government responds to his initiative,” he said.
Also on Thursday, a Dhaka court did not grant bail to five arrested leaders of the BNP. Metropolitan sessions judge Md Zahirul Haque ordered that the bail petitions will come up for further hearing on November 28 after interrogation of the accused Opposition leaders. Investigation officers are scheduled to quiz the BNP leaders, including three MPs, in jail on November 24. The arrested BNP lawmakers are Moudud Ahmed (73), MK Anwar (81) and Rafiqul Islam Miah (71). The two others are BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia’s adviser Abdul Awal Mintoo (65) and her special assistant Shimul Biswas (56).
In a related development, the President’s press secretary, Ihsanul Karim, said on Thursday that Bangabhaban has forwarded the minutes of the much-hyped meeting between President Abdul Hamid and a 20-member Opposition delegation led by Khaleda Zia to the government, reports agencies.
On Tuesday, the Opposition delegation sought presidential intervention to break the current political deadlock by paving the way for holding the general election under a non-partisan administration.
Hamid, however, told the Opposition team that there was no provision in the Constitution regarding the President’s role in extending help to overcome a critical situation.
-With The Independent input
