BANGLADESH

Missing BNP leader M Ilias Ali's wife met his party chief again on Wednesday.

Tahsina Rushdir Luna had also met Khaleda Zia on May 3.

Khaleda's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told that she went to the opposition chief's office at Gulshan around 9pm and was there for more than one hour.

Khaleda's aide added that Luna went to the party chairperson's Gulshan office alone.

Luna had previously called on Khaleda on Apr 21 following the disappearance of her husband.

Ilias, one of the organising secretaries of BNP and a former MP from Sylhet, and his driver went missing in the early hours of Apr 18. His car was found abandoned in the capital's Mohakhali area.

BNP has been alleging that 'government agencies picked him up', but the government has been refuting the allegation, saying it was a 'drama staged by the BNP'.

The Rapid Action Battalion and police have raided several places at Pubail in Gazipur and Dhaka in search of Ilias, but to no avail.

BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and other senior leaders met Chairperson Khaleda Zia on Monday night after being granted a seven-day reprieve by the High Court.

He was accompanied by A S M Hannan Shah, Mirza Abbas, Amanullah Aman and other top brass of the party during the visit to Khaleda's Gulshan office.

Fakhrul and other senior BNP leaders, after spending a week in 'hiding', appeared before the High Court earlier in the day to press for their anticipatory bail plea in two cases filed over bomb blasts, arson and vandalism during Apr 29 countrywide shutdown.

The bench of justices Moinul Islam Chowdhury and Mohammad Nazrul Islam Talukder gave a split verdict on the petition but gave them respite for seven days by ordering police not to harass them during the intervening period.

Immediately after the order, the BNP spokesperson went to the party's headquarters in Naya Paltan and vowed to continue anti-government demonstrations on the streets.

BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia will announce party's next course of agitation over the alleged abduction of M Ilias Ali at a press conference after the countrywide dawn-to-dusk general strike for the third successive day on Tuesday.

After a meeting between Khaleda and the party's policymakers at her Gulshan office on Monday night, standing committee member Goyeshwar Chandra Roy informed reporters of the decision.

Her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan added that the party chief would meet the press at 6:45pm at her Gulshan office.

He said Khaleda would speak at length about the situation arising out of the disappearance of Ilias at the press conference. "She will also speak about the overall political situation."

Roy said the protests against the disappearance of the organising secretary would continue until the government 'returns' him.

Asked whether hartal would be called again, he said, "Our street protests will continue ... we will protest in various ways."

Acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee members Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, R A Gani, Moudud Ahmed, Mahbubur Rahman, M K Anwar, Jamiruddin Sircar, A S M Hannan Shah, Mirza Abbas, Rafikul Islam Mia, Mirza Abbasm Nazrul Islam Khan and Abdul Moyen Khan, among others, attended the meeting.

Opposition leader and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia has returned home after undergoing a medical treatment at Singapore's National University Hospital.

A Singapore Airline flight carrying her touched the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport just before 11pm.

Khaleda's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan said the opposition leader underwent a full medical check-up in Singapore.

"She (Khaleda) is fine now," he added.

Top party leaders including acting secretary-general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, standing committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, Barrister Jamir Uddin Sarker, Nazrul Islam Khan, Altaf Hossain Chowdhury, Aman Ullah Aman, Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, Fazlul Haque Milon and Juba Dal president Moazzem Hossain Alal, among others, received her at the airport.

She had left Dhaka for Singapore to undergo a medical check-up on Apr 9.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia have sent greetings to Bangladesh's cricket star Shakib Al Hasan on his 26th birthday.

"The prime minister wished Shakib a glorious future and hoped that he would lead Bangladesh's cricket to new heights," Hasina's special assistant (media) Mahbubul Haque Shakil told bdnews24.com on Saturday.

Khaleda's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan also told bdnews24.com that Khaleda sent a cake and flowers with a greetings card to Shakib.

Party's sports affairs secretary Raihan Amin Talukder took the presents to Shakib's Mirpur residence, he said.

Shakib was born on Mar 24, 1987 in Magura. His debut test match was against India in 2007 while his ODI debut was against Zimbabwe the previous year.

He won the title of 'Man of the Tournament' in the just-concluded Asia Cup by scoring 237 individual runs and claiming six wickets during the tournament.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia on Monday reiterated her party's stance of not taking part in any national elections under a government led by a political party.

She threatened that the incumbents would be unseated by mass uprising if the caretaker government was not reinstated, during her brief address before setting off for a mass procession in Dhaka.

Beginning around 4.15pm from the party's headquarter in Naya Paltan, the procession covered Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh and Mouchak before finishing at Moghbazar at around 5pm. Khaleda, who was in a car at the middle of the procession, reached around 6.15pm.

"There is still some time left. Reinstate the caretaker government, or else the people will take you down in uprising," Khaleda Zia said in her address.

She called on the people to make BNP's Dhaka grand rally on Mar 12 a success.

"On Mar 12 the people of the nation will be in Dhaka. From that rally I will announce important programmes," Khaleda said.

The BNP Chairperson said there would be 'three times as many people' at the grand rally. "So pick where you will run while there's still time," she added.

Khaleda called on those 'in the Awami League who loved the country' to join her 'Dhaka Chalo' march on Mar 12, saying, "Save your country and save yourselves."

She had earlier declared plans to hold this countrywide public procession on Jan 29. But the programme was postponed for a day after Dhaka metropolitan unit of Awami League also called for a rally the same day and the police imposed Section 144, banning all gatherings in the capital on Sunday apprehending law and order crisis.

The opposition party's processions in other metropolitan cities, including Chittagong, Rajshahi and Barisal, were also postponed after the police there imposed similar restrictions.

Khaleda blamed the government for Sunday's four deaths in clashes between the police and opposition protesters. She said there would be protest programmes in every district on Tuesday and prayers at every mosque on Feb 3.

'HASINA LIES'

Khaleda said prime minister Sheikh Hasina had lied about BNP's association with the failed military coup-d'etat. "BNP does not believe in politics of deadline. It was Awami League who had given us a deadline, saying they had a trump card. Their trump card was to bring a military-backed illegal government to power," she said.

"It was Awami League who was behind all the military coup in the country, not BNP," she asserted.

"We believe in people's coup, not military coup," she said.

The former prime minister said the government was scared of the people and hence 'the firing on people'. "They did nothing but loot and plunder in the last three years. They did nothing for the people," Khaleda claimed.


PROCESSION AFTER PROCESSION

Metropolitan BNP member-secretary Abdus Salam said that despite various 'hurdles', the party and members of its associate organisations from all wards in the capital joined the procession.

Police stopped traffic on one side of Naya Paltan road from around noon on Monday after BNP activists started gathering at the venue.

Within an hour, the stretch between Nightingale Restaurant intersection and Fakirapul's AGB Colony road was filled with activists dressed in bright colours, especially green, and carrying festoons and effigies of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman, his wife and party chief Khaleda, and their son and BNP senior vice-president Tarique Rahman.

Members of the four-party opposition coalition and other like-minded parties also participated in the procession.

Though Khaleda herself was on a car, many senior leaders walked or went on trucks.

Khaleda promised better governance once her party returned to power.

"We will listen to everyone's advice to run the country. There will be employment for the youth, rejuvenation of the broken ties with the Muslim world. We will not let the country be servile to others," she said.

SECURITY MEASURES

Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) reportedly deployed an additional 5,000 law enforcers in the capital, equipped with water canons and riot cars to tackle any untoward incident sparked by the mass procession.

A large number of police officials have been deployed along the procession route at Naya Paltan, Khilgaon, Matijheel, Bijoy Nagar, Kakrail, Shantinagar, Malibagh, Moghbazar. Additional police members were placed in front of the BNP headquarters since 8:30am on Monday.

Additional deputy police commissioner Mehedi Hasan told that the police have taken all necessary preparations to ensure security.

Warning that the consequences otherwise will be "unpleasant", BNP chief Khaleda Zia has demanded lifting of the ban on all sorts of gathering in the capital meant for Sunday.

"Awami League announced a counter-programme two days ago to foil the (BNP) mass procession. The government has now imposed Section 144 citing chances of conflict," Khaleda said at the Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh (IDEB) on Saturday.

Khaleda was addressing a programme on the closing ceremony of diploma engineers' national council.

The Dhaka metropolitan unit of Awami League announced a counter-programme on Sunday, to coincide with BNP's mass procession. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) subsequently imposed a ban on all kind of gathering and procession in the city on Sunday.

According to DMP officials, the ban has been imposed as a pre-emptive move to avoid possible law and order breakdown.

Khaleda had given a call for Sunday's public procession, demanding reinstatement of the caretaker government system, during a rally in Chittagong on Jan 9.

But AL's metropolitan unit on Thursday called for a rally of its own on Sunday in front of the party's Bangabandhu Avenue office.

Khaleda said the government is taken aback at the huge participation in BNP's "peaceful programmes". "Fearing this, they (government) have taken a wicked path," she alleged.

The former prime minister cited her 2001-6 administration's efforts for the improvement of technical education and engineers.

She supported the diploma engineers' slogan, 'Save Rivers, Save Country' and called on them to unite to save the country from the 'current crisis.

The closing ceremony of the 19th and 35th national council of diploma engineers was held in Institution of Diploma Engineers, Bangladesh. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the programme on Thursday.

Around 6,000 diploma engineers from Bangladesh and 30 representatives from the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, took part in the programme.

BNP chief Khaleda Zia has sat with her senior advisors, hours after police banned gatherings in Dhaka for Sunday when she was scheduled to lead a procession of her party..

The meeting of the highest policymaking forum, the National Standing Committee, kicked off from 7pm on Saturday at her Gulshan office.

It is aimed at discussing the next course of action in the wake of the changed situation created by Dhaka Metropolitan Police's ban on gatherings, her press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan said.

Standing committee members R A Gani, Khandker Mosharraf Hossain, Moudud Ahmed, M Shamsul Islam, Mahbubur Rahman, Tariqul Islam, M K Anwar, Jamiruddin Sircar, A S M Hannan Shah, Rafiqul Islam Miah, Mirza Abbas, Abdul Moin Khan, Nazrul Islam Khan and acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam have joined the meeting.

BNP vice-president, also Dhaka metropolitan BNP convenor, Sadeque Hossain Khoka is participating there on special invitation.

Explaining BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's 'final match' remarks on Thursday, the party's acting secretary-general has said she was hinting at preparations for the next general election under a caretaker government.

"But BNP won't join the election if it's held under the present partisan government," Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir warned on Friday.

"Our leader [Khaleda] talked about playing the match. The match is to derail the government through an impartial election under the caretaker provision. That's why, a playing field must be prepared for this," he told a discussion in the city.

"But, if the referee and linesmen turn out to be yours [the government], we won't play the final match," Fakhrul added.

He urged everyone to take part in the 'ultimate movement' announced by Khaleda on Sep 27 at a rally to garner support against the government.

The main opposition chief announced 'three road march' programme starting October 10 from Sylhet, Rajshahi and Chittagong at the Naya Paltan rally.

At a programme on Thursday, she said, "In our road marches, we will tell the nation about the government's tyranny and corruption. Then we will prepare for a final match after the road marches in October."

Meanwhile, responding to Khaleda's remark, Awami League presidium member Obaidul Quader on Friday said that governments cannot be ousted by fixing dates.

He said, "If the Sep 27 rally was the first round, then BNP is 'daydreaming' to play the finals without playing in the second round, quarter finals or semi-finals."

Fakhrul, however, said that the present government has led the country to backwardness. "We've begun our movement to establish the caretaker government by ousting this government."

"Our party chief has already said that no election will be held without caretakers. That's why we are protesting. We want to cast them [government] out through the election," he told the discussion at the party headquarters at Naya Paltan.

The government also tried to fool the people by annulling the caretaker provision and reinstating secularism in the constitution through the 15th amendment to the constitution, he added.

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.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said Khaleda Zia is only trying to bide time by binding a timeframe to overthrow the government.

Responding to the BNP chairperson's recent remarks, Hasina on Saturday said, "She changed the deadline to September next year. She had fixed before the deadline until June this year."

"She added 15 months to unseat the government. Thanks for that," she said at a news conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on the outcome of her recent US visit at her official residence Ganabhaban on Saturday.

At a four-party coalition rally on Tuesday, the opposition chief threatened that the government would be pushed from office before the next September. "Then we will prepare for a final match."

Explaining the 'match', BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Friday said that by the 'match', Khaleda meant the next general election. "But, BNP won't play the match if the government plays the 'referee'."

About the 'final match', the ruling Awami League president said, "There are quarter-finals and semi-finals before the final. What stage she is at now?"

"Anybody may play as much as they want... Players will continue playing. Those who work will continue working," she added.

Awami League presidium member Obaidul Quader on Friday said, "If the Sept 27 rally was the first round, then BNP is 'daydreaming' to play the final without playing in the second round, quarter-finals or semi-finals."

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has ruled out a dialogue with her arch political rival Khaleda Zia.

She thinks that the people of the country will not support BNP which Khaleda heads.

Hasina claimed the main opposition will never succeed in its agitation to unseat her government. "The people of the country will not stand up for corrupt people. So, they (BNP) won't be able to impede the country's development and progress."

She urged the opposition to not make the people suffer in the name of protest.

About the reason behind her refusal to sit with Khaleda, she said, "The BNP leader has only one demand now — release of her corrupt sons. Also, [she wants] a stop to war crimes trial and withdrawal of cases of corruption and laundering money abroad. The purpose of their protests is identical."

"So, I don't think there discussions with them will do any good."

The prime minister was speaking to the press at the permanent mission of Bangladesh to the United Nations in New York on Saturday.

'EVERYONE WILL JOIN ELECTIONS'

Hasina recalled the series of incidents that had taken place after the Jan 11, 2007 changeover.

"People's constitutional right was restored after many struggles once again this time. Everyone will have to be alert so that none will be able to take away the right in future," she said.

In reply to a question about Khaleda's remark that BNP will not join any election without caretaker government overseeing it, she said, "Election will be held in the country when the time comes and every party will take part in the election."

"The Election Commission is working independently. The government never interferes with the commission's work. The party that will get people's vote will come to power," Hasina said.

The caretaker government system was cancelled by the 15th Amendment to the constitution passed in parliament on June 30 following a Supreme Court verdict.

BNP has been protesting the move and saying that it will not participate in any election without caretaker government.

Hasina said the government had taken a policy of zero-tolerance towards militancy and added, "BNP-Jamaat alliance government had turned Bangladesh into a terrorist country."

US first lady Michelle Obama wanted to know about Bangladesh and expressed her eagerness to visit the country during the dinner she hosted, Hasina said.

She also said she was trying to relaunch Bangladesh Biman's Dhaka-New York flight.

MORE ACTIVE UN

The prime minister said, "The UN's job is not limited to establishing peace now. We want to see the UN as a more active organisation."

She said she thought peace would be established if the 'peace-centric development model' she presented at the UN General Assembly was implemented.

TEESTA DEAL

About Bangladesh-India relations, Hasina said, "Friendly relationship between the countries remains unchanged. Discussions to share water of 54 common rivers are on-oing."

"It needs time to decide which country will get how much water [of the Teesta river]. We are discussing whether an interim deal can be signed."