‘Caretaker issue not on agenda’

The visiting UN emissary Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has apparently said he will not discuss the caretaker government issue while trying to broker peace between Bangladesh’s two major political parties.

The caretaker government issue has been the basis of the current confrontation between the Awami League and the BNP.

“The election can be held within the constitution. There is no need to discuss the caretaker government. But there must be an even playing field in the elections,” Prime Minister’s Advisor Gowher Rizvi quoted the UN envoy as saying after meeting with the Premier.

The UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, who is in Dhaka to mediate talks between Awami League and BNP, spent a hectic day meeting political leaders including Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia.

File Photo

Bangladesh has been witnessing a political standoff following differences between the two parties over the dispensation that will oversee the 10th parliamentary election.

The BNP refused to take part in the election unless it is held under a 'non-party' government.

But the ruling party that amended the constitution more than two years ago to scrap the caretaker provision installed an 'all-party' interim cabinet, in which BNP did not join, to conduct the polls.

Amid this impasse, the UN envoy’s visit has been seen crucial in finding a solution to the current impasse.

During his meeting with the Prime Minister, the UN envoy sought to know whether the election date could be deferred in an apparent hint to bring the main opposition in the polls.

Sheikh Hasina in response said it was the Election Commission’s (EC) jurisdiction. The UN emissary will meet the EC chief on Sunday.

After meeting the Prime Minister, he also called on the Leader of the Opposition Khaleda Zia. But the BNP did not divulge details of the meeting, saying they would reveal it later.

“There will be more meetings in the coming two days,” the party Vice-Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury told journalists.

However, the ruling Awami League, on the first day of Fernandez-Taranco’s effort to break the deadlock, on Saturday appeared optimistic about a positive outcome of the visit.

Awami League General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam after a meeting with the envoy, along with six other party comrades including veteran Tofail Ahmed and Amir Hossain Amu, said his visit would be “fruitful”.

But he urged all, particularly the media, to give politicians and the UN team “time” and “space” so that they could come up with a solution for an inclusive elections.

The Argentine, who has a “wealth of experience” in the UN dealing with “increasingly complex” situation, came at a time when political crisis in the country has further deepened and filing of nominations for the Jan 5 national election just ended.

BNP did not file nominations as it rejected the elections supervised by the 'all-party' interim cabinet.

Fernandez-Taranco began his official tour on Saturday by visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the morning where he met the Foreign Affairs Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Secretary Md Shahidul Haque.

None of them spoke to media. But ministry officials said, the envoy stressed on “inclusive, credible and peaceful” elections during the meeting.

During his stay in Bangladesh until December 10, he would meet with members of the civil society, media, foreign diplomats in Dhaka, and international community to find a way out to hold an all inclusive elections within the framework of the Constitution.

The Awami League General Secretary said Fernandez-Taranco would meet them “twice, thrice or even more” and as many times with the leaders of the BNP.

However, the BNP leaders, who were supposed to meet the UN envoy before his meeting with the party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, did not turn up.

A BNP leader, who wished not to be named, said the party’s acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir spoke to the UN emissary over phone from his hiding place and told the UN envoy that whatever their Chairperson would say would be their final words.

Fernandez-Taranco, who was appointed by the Secretary General to this current post in July, 2009 arrived in Dhaka on Friday evening.

According to the UN, it was follow-up of his May visit where he would encourage dialogue and help create an environment conducive for all parties to join the elections.

Working in the political division, Fernandez-Taranco works on the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and West Asia, as well as in the Decolonisation Unit and the Division for Palestinian Rights, according to the UN.

Educated at Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he first studied economics and then urban-regional economic planning.

He started his career in the UN as a Volunteer in Benin, after a stint with Oxfam America.