BANGLADESH

The prime minister has said Khaleda Zia will have no other option but to join the national elections, barely 48 hours after the opposition leader warned there would be none without non-party caretakers.

"The polls will be held and the people will participate," Sheikh Hasina said while briefing journalists on Saturday on her trip to the United Nations and the United States at her official residence, Ganobhaban.

She again remarked that the door to discussions with the opposition party was open.

Hasina hit out at BNP chairperson's warning at a rally in Dhaka on Tuesday that no ballot will be allowed without a caretaker government overseeing it.

The prime minister asserted; "Elections will definitely be held. The people will certainly go to vote."

Addressing the ongoing debate about the caretaker government, the prime minister urged the opposition to come to parliament and discuss the issue.

She added that the opposition chief had herself questioned the logic behind the caretaker government system when the Awami League had pressed for one in the mid-1990s.

However, BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has warned that no national polls will be allowed to be held without a caretaker government.

"She [Khaleda] is talking so much. But she will come to the polls. She has to. If she believes in democracy, she will," the prime minister said.

The ruling Awami League president blamed her arch political rival for pushing the caretaker government provision into a firestorm of controversy.

Alluding to the BNP-picked president Iajuddin Ahmed heading the caretaker government in 2006, Hasina said, "It was her who made the caretaker government questionable."

The Supreme Court ruled against the provision of caretaker government and then parliament through the 15th constitutional amendment abolished it by scrapping the 13th amendment that had created it.

As a result, the national polls will now be held under a politicians-led caretaker administration.

When asked whether there will be any talks with the opposition leader to resolve political disagreements, Hasina said, "She [Khaleda] has already given a deadline by which the government will be overthrown, so what is the need for talks?"

"Let (her) come to parliament, speak there and discussions will be held in parliament."

While declaring anti-government movements at a rally in Paltan, the opposition leader said that the government will be overthrown by next September.

Expressing her intent to hand over power through the national polls, the prime minister said, "The people want polls. Voting is their constitutional rights. If the people do not vote, we do not want that power."

When asked whether Jamaat-e-Islami will be banned, Hasina said, "The government has no plans to ban any political party. However, justice will be served for terrorism."

She also avoided commenting directly on the changes to come in the cabinet and said, "Everyone can see when the changes are made."

Welcoming Khaleda's proposal to appoint the election commissioners through discussion, Hasina said, "We also want the matter to be cleared. To ensure empowerment of the people, the commissioner must be appointed in a free, fair and impartial process."

Mentioning the Sep 19 clashes between police and activists of Jamaat and its student body Islami Chhatra Shibir activists in Dhaka, she also asked the people to be aware and make a stand against the violence of the Islamist party.

"These things were done only to hamper the trial of the war criminals. But the trial will take place," she said.

Acknowledging the price hike of the essentials, she claimed, "People's buying capacity has also improved with that."

The prime minister said that rice is being sold at Tk 26-28 per kilogramme outside the capital and at Tk 30 in Dhaka. "I got that news today from the villages."

Referring to the pressure on the country's budget and foreign exchange reserve used to increase power generation, the prime minister said, "We have added 2000 megawatt in last two years while they [BNP] reduced 1200 megawatt in their five years."

The government is also working on increasing the gas generation and reserve, she added.

Hasina informed the press about Tk 22,000 subsidy in fuel, power, food and agriculture sectors. "But there won't be any development if all sectors are being subsidised."

She wondered over Khaleda's call to the foreign countries not to train country's RAB and police. "They formed RAB. In 2005, she [Khaleda] blamed the media for the wrong explanation of crossfire."

"She said that in a firefight with the terrorists, the law-enforcement agency has the right to save themselves. I'm the first one who protested crossfire," she told the press briefing.

At the beginning of the new conference, she talked about her 11-day visit to the US where she attended the UN General Assembly.

Hasina said, "I tried to project the country's liberal, peace-loving and democratic image before the world by attending the assembly, several seminars and symposiums there."

"I also reaffirmed our stance against every form of terrorism," the prime minister added.