The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bdnews24.com, Dhaka

The Awami League will ask the Election Commission to declare a timeframe for the upcoming national elections during their second round of dialogue, a senior party member said yesterday.

The party will also clarify its position on the delimitation of constituencies, and ask the government to provide additional funding for political parties, acting AL general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told reporters following a meeting of the AL working committee at the party president's office.

On whether the party would ask the EC to release all political detainees ahead of the national polls, including the party president, Ashraful said: "We give priority to the release of Sheikh Hasina. She needs good medical treatment right now."

The acting general secretary said other issues up for discussion included lifting the state of emergency and a resumption of indoor politics.

The EC has proposed a ban on the involvement of any 'wing' of a political party in academic, commercial or financial institutions, as well as prohibiting party offices overseas.

Ashraf said: "We don't have any opinion about [the former]; we don't have any wings. We have only associated organisations."

"If there is an office in any foreign country, it will operate according to the rules of that country," he added.

The EC starts its second round of dialogues with the political parties Sunday, with AL invited for talks on Monday.

The party's working committee meeting also finalised a number of party programmes including those to mark Independence Day on March 26, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's historic March 7address to the nation calling for liberation, and Sheikh Mujib's birth anniversary on March 17.