Meet with us official: AL, BNP won’t budge on polls- time govt

The ruling Awami League spoke against caretaker government while the BNP said it won't join polls under incumbent government at a meeting with US Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Afreen Akhter.

Akhter all along stressed the need for participatory, free and fair elections.

At the meeting with the US deputy assistant secretary yesterday, AL International Affairs Secretary Shammi Ahmed  said the caretaker government system was spoilt in the past.

BNP Standing Committee Member Amir Khashru Mahmud Chowdhury said his party would not join polls under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government.

The meeting was held at the residence of a US embassy official in the capital. Jatiya Party chairman's special envoy and adviser Masroor Mawla and US Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas were also present.

Masroor said the two major political parties should find a middle ground ending enmity.

Akhter told reporters that the US wants to see participation of all political parties in the next national election, slated for January 2024.

Earlier in the day, she had a meeting with Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen.

"Free and fair elections must include a level playing field for all participants, including political parties," the US embassy said yesterday referring to Akhter's visit to Bangladesh.

The US deputy assistant secretary arrived in Dhaka on Saturday afternoon and met some top government officials the following morning.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Masroor Mawla said Akhter  first wanted to know from Shammi about the next Jatiya Sangsad polls.

The AL leader said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was committed to holding free and credible elections.

She also told the US official that the caretaker government system became highly controversial during the BNP's rule and therefore, parliament revoked the system in 2011.

Akhter then wanted to know Amir Khasru's thoughts. The BNP leader said the country made huge strides during the previous rule of his party, and that BNP founder late president Ziaur Rahman had taken the initiative to set up the readymade garment sector.

Migrant workers and the RMG sector were the main foreign currency earners for Bangladesh, but $7 billion were laundered each year from the country and that's why the economy is under serious strain now, Masroor quoted Amir Khasru as saying.

The BNP leader said his party would join the next parliamentary polls only under a caretaker or interim government and it was because "elections under an AL government can never be free and fair".

Masroor said he told Akhter  that the incumbent Election Commission was not neutral. "For a fair election, neutrality of the Election Commission is very important."

He said they learned a lesson that "fair elections are not possible when polling agents are ousted from the polling booths and ballot boxes are stuffed at midnight".

US Ambassador Peter Haas said all political parties need to move forward positively for the betterment of the country.

"I said the enmity between the two major political parties should end. They need to sit and reach a compromise. Otherwise, whichever party would be in power in future would do the same thing and that cannot continue," Masroor said.