BNP stuck to its stand and once again turned town an invitation for Wednesday’s talks with the ‘biased’ Election Commission.
‘We express our sincere regrets as it is not possible to take part in the discussion at your invitation today because there is no change in our position as I had conveyed to you in my previous letter,’ BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir wrote in reply.
Mirza Fakhrul had written in his letter to the Election that the current Election Commission’s initiative on for making new laws and amending the existing laws for the next general elections was far from credible due to its controversial role in holding the ninth general election in 2008.
He said that all the actions the current Election
Commission took since taking responsibility on February 5, 2007 were ‘biased, motivated and designed to destroy BNP’ and to get a particular party victorious to ‘suit the wishes’ of the emergency caretaker government of the day.
He said that the current Election Commission lost its credibility in the public eye by backtracking thrice from its own announcement of the date of election of Dhaka City Corporation, the tenure of which had expired four years back only to satisfy the concerns of the incumbent Awami League led government.
The chief election commissioner, ATM Shamsul Huda, on Tuesday said that no further chance would be given to BNP to sit with the commission if the main opposition party failed to attend the dialogue scheduled for Wednesday.
It was the commission’s second invitation to BNP for dialogue.
On June 13, BNP turned down an invitation for dialogue from the Election Commission describing the EC as ‘controversial’ and ‘biased and motivated.’
BNP said that it considers it would be an exercise in futility to discuss the next election with the current Election Commission which lost the people’s confidence for its weak and partisan attitude.
BNP said this Election Commission ‘cannot hold fair elections.’
BNP said that this Election Commission did everything on instructions from the emergency caretaker administration and the incumbent Awami League led government to weaken and eliminate BNP to ensure a particular party’s victory in elections.
Besides, BNP said, it would be useless for this controversial Election Commission to take any initiative, at the fag end of its tenure, to reform and update electoral law and rules because it would not be there at the time of the next polls.
‘The task should be left for the next Election Commission,’ said BNP.
Jamaat-e-Islami, Bangladesh Jatiya Party and Jamiyat-e-Ulama-e-Islam, also turned down the EC invitation for talks.
-With New Age input
