The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The government yesterday claimed that most of the demands of the BNP-led four-party alliance had already been fulfilled.

The emergency will be further relaxed or even withdrawn if conditions prove congenial after submission of nomination papers, said a government adviser.

In a hurriedly called press conference, Adviser for Commerce and Education Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman made it clear that there should be no doubt about the holding of elections on December 18. The Adviser said, the entire nation was ready to switch over to political transition through a meaningful election on December 18 with the participation of all parties.

"Now, the main responsibility lies with the political parties who will contest the election," he said, adding that responsible and visionary role of all would expedite this transition period.

On BNP seven-point demand, he explained that the Upazila election has been deferred from its earlier date to December 28, as regards the delimitation of parliamentary constituencies, the Adviser said that the matter had been resolved by the High Court Division of the Supreme Court. About price hike, Dr Zillur said the government had taken necessary steps to keep prices of essentials under check.

The press conference was held after a meeting of the four advisers with Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed at his office in the morning.

Dr Hossain Zillur readout a written statement at the press conference and did not respond to queries from journalists.

He said the government might consider fully lifting the state of emergency if the election environment developed smoothly after submission of nomination papers.

Before the full withdrawal, the government spokesman said, another phase of relaxation of emergency was under consideration after the nomination process was complete.

On the political parties demand to create a level playing field, Hossain Zillur said the government had brought huge changes in field administration at the request of the Election Commission (EC).

"The government is determined to strictly control any tendency that influences the electoral process," he said.

The Adviser said if the EC received any complaint of bias, proper measures would be taken in this regard.

Regarding the RPO, he said to ease the situation many amendments had been brought to Representation of People's Order (RPO) Ordinance.

On the pending trial of a number of cases filed against some potential candidates, he said the issue was under the purview of independent judicial system.

The three other Advisers include M Anwarul Iqbal, Hassan Ariff and Maj Gen (Retd) Ghulam Quader, who dealt dialogue process with the political parties, were present at the briefing.