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UPDATE 3-Bangladesh to end emergency from Dec. 17 | Reuters
Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:48pm IST
By Anis Ahmed
DHAKA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Bangladesh will lift its nearly two-year-old state of emergency from Dec. 17 to ensure a free, fair and credible election later this month, a government adviser (minister) said on Wednesday.
"The emergency will be fully withdrawn from Dec. 17 while all restrictions on holding meetings and rallies by political parties will be lifted from Dec. 12," Hossain Zillur Rahman told reporters. Bangladesh is due to hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 29.
A military-backed interim government took over in January 2007 following widespread violence and imposed indefinite emergency rule, vowing to rid the impoverished south Asian country of endemic political corruption. It cancelled an election due on Jan. 22 last year but pledged to hold one by the end of 2008. Political parties including the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, had asked for an immediate end to the emergency to allow free election campaigning. The government said it decided to end the ban immediately after the deadline for withdrawing nominations for the polls on Thursday, "to remove any doubt about our intention to create a congenial political atmosphere" ahead of the vote. "We are not fully happy ... because we also wanted the emergency abolished from the day one (after the nomination deadline), senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta told reporters.
BNP secretary-general Khandoker Delwar Hossain welcomed the government's announcement on Wednesday, calling it a "people's victory".
AWAMI ALLIANCE BID FALTERS
Hasina and Khaleda, who rotated in power over 15 years to October 2006, were among hundreds of politicians arrested during the emergency for alleged corruption. The two have been released after nearly a year in prison, following pressure on the government at home and abroad to ensure that their parties, the country's biggest, take part in the polls.
Analysts and diplomats said the election would not be credible if either party boycotted it. That might also trigger violence.
The Awami League and BNP are frontrunners in the vote, which was originally planned for Dec. 18 but delayed at the request of the BNP.
Rallies and processions were banned under the emergency
Both parties are trying to forge election alliances with other groups -- Awami with the Jatiya Party of former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad and the BNP with its old government partner Jamaat-e-Islami.
Ershad told reporters late on Wednesday that the bid for an alliance with the Awami League had failed, blaming Hasina for not giving Jatiya a promised share of parliament seats. The Awami League said the alliance failed to emerge because of Jatiya's "stiff attitude and apathy", without elaborating. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
Wed Dec 10, 2008 11:48pm IST
By Anis Ahmed
DHAKA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Bangladesh will lift its nearly two-year-old state of emergency from Dec. 17 to ensure a free, fair and credible election later this month, a government adviser (minister) said on Wednesday.
"The emergency will be fully withdrawn from Dec. 17 while all restrictions on holding meetings and rallies by political parties will be lifted from Dec. 12," Hossain Zillur Rahman told reporters. Bangladesh is due to hold parliamentary elections on Dec. 29.
A military-backed interim government took over in January 2007 following widespread violence and imposed indefinite emergency rule, vowing to rid the impoverished south Asian country of endemic political corruption. It cancelled an election due on Jan. 22 last year but pledged to hold one by the end of 2008. Political parties including the Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by former prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Begum Khaleda Zia, had asked for an immediate end to the emergency to allow free election campaigning. The government said it decided to end the ban immediately after the deadline for withdrawing nominations for the polls on Thursday, "to remove any doubt about our intention to create a congenial political atmosphere" ahead of the vote. "We are not fully happy ... because we also wanted the emergency abolished from the day one (after the nomination deadline), senior Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta told reporters.
BNP secretary-general Khandoker Delwar Hossain welcomed the government's announcement on Wednesday, calling it a "people's victory".
AWAMI ALLIANCE BID FALTERS
Hasina and Khaleda, who rotated in power over 15 years to October 2006, were among hundreds of politicians arrested during the emergency for alleged corruption. The two have been released after nearly a year in prison, following pressure on the government at home and abroad to ensure that their parties, the country's biggest, take part in the polls.
Analysts and diplomats said the election would not be credible if either party boycotted it. That might also trigger violence.
The Awami League and BNP are frontrunners in the vote, which was originally planned for Dec. 18 but delayed at the request of the BNP.
Rallies and processions were banned under the emergency
Both parties are trying to forge election alliances with other groups -- Awami with the Jatiya Party of former military ruler Hossain Mohammad Ershad and the BNP with its old government partner Jamaat-e-Islami.
Ershad told reporters late on Wednesday that the bid for an alliance with the Awami League had failed, blaming Hasina for not giving Jatiya a promised share of parliament seats. The Awami League said the alliance failed to emerge because of Jatiya's "stiff attitude and apathy", without elaborating. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
