The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

BNP would not participate in the forthcoming parliamentary elections under the state of emergency.

The Secretary General of BNP Kondoker Delwar Hossain informed it yesterday at a meeting with a UN delegation at the party's central office at Naya Paltan in the city.

BNP standing committee members RA Gani, Chowdhury Tanvir Ahmed Siddiqui, M Shamsul Islam, vice president MK Anwar and joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan, among others, attended the meeting.

The visiting UN team for South Asia, Asia and the Pacific region on political affairs Hitoki Den and UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Renata Dessalien were present during the meeting.

"We would not take part in the elections on December 18 under the emergency rules," Kondoker Delwar told the journalists after holding meeting with the delegation.

He said that it was not possible to hold a free and fair election amid the state of emergency. If the government wants to stage elections under emergency, BNP would not take part in it.

Replying to a question about what issues have they discussed with the UN delegation, the Secretary General of BNP said "We have stated our position to the UN delegation as they wanted to know from us,".

When asked on their next round of dialogue with the government, Delwar said: "We want to hold another dialogue with the government before Oct 20. But we are not getting any response from the government,".

He, however, hoped that the government would give them the date for next round of dialogue.

"We hope the government will give us a date very soon," he added.

Delwar reiterated that BNP would decide on registering with the Election Commission after an accord was reached in talks with the government.

He also remarked that the foreign diplomats in Bangladesh should not make any remarks that may spoil the electoral atmosphere.

"We hope that they will follow diplomatic etiquette and rules in line with Geneva convention," he said.

After the meeting UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, Renata Dessalien told the journalists that they were still optimistic that a free and fair election would be held in time with the participation of all parties.

"We hope that the winning and defeated parties would work together after the elections for the sake of restoring democracy in the country," she added.