Oikya Front to write to govt for talks before election schedule is out

The Dr Kamal Hossain-led Jatiya Oikya Front is dispatching a letter to the government calling for talks before the schedule for the 11th parliamentary elections is announced.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal-JSD President ASM Abdur Rab revealed the alliance’s decision after a meeting in Dhaka on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, the government announced Nov 1 as the date for meeting between the Election Commission and the president, where the commission will formally inform Md Abdul Hamid about the progress in fixing the schedule likely to be announced in the first week of that month.

“We will urge the government to hold talks before the announcement of the schedule. The schedule should not be announced without discussion with us, the stakeholders, who want to contest in the election,” Rab told reporters.

“We will inform the government and the ruling party about our seven demands for (talks),” he added.

Rab said they would also send a letter with their demands to the EC.

Jatiya Oikya Front alliance leaders Dr Kamal Hossain and ASM Abdur Rab arrive for a meeting with Dhaka-based foreign diplomats at a hotel in the capital on Thursday.

Dr Kamal’s Gono Forum, the BNP, the JSD, and the Nagorik Oikya have recently formed the Front ahead of the general elections.

Their demands include dissolution of parliament and release of jailed BNP chief Khaleda Zia before holding the elections with a non-partisan government in power.

The Awami League continues rejecting the demands, which had been raised by the BNP earlier. The ruling party also alleges conspiracy behind the formation of the new front.

Rab demanded release of BNP National Standing Committee Member Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury, who was sent to jail earlier in the day in an ICT Act case, before their rally in Sylhet on Wednesday.

The JSD president thanked the government for granting the permission for the rally, but said, “The government has realised that there would be confrontation if we were denied the permission.”

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, among other leaders of the alliance, attended the meeting at the Gono Forum office at Motijheel.