Delwar to lead dialogues

Is Khaleda to take action against reformists?

by Ahmed Sarder

Begum Khaleda Zia has been released. Freed Khaleda is now participating in different party programmes. The BNP chairperson has already held two important meetings. One was the party’s standing committee meeting and the other one the four-party alliance meeting.
Soon after the release of Khaleda, it seemed that the reformists merged with the mainstream easily as Begum Zia allowed two reformist leaders – M Saifur Rahman and Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman – in the standing committee.
These two reformist leaders requested to meet Begum Zia. Khaleda allowed them although she castigated them both for their past roles. In response, these two senior BNP leaders admitted their cowardly submission to the government’s agenda to bring reforms in the party and sought pardon from the chairperson.        
Sources close to Begum Zia told this correspondent, there are still many episodes of the drama being played by Begum Zia. The sources say she is taking stock of party affairs. The political schemes of Begum Zia might be clear after one or two months.  
However, Khaleda is still keeping confidence in Khandaker Delwar Hossain.
Certain leaders, especially ASM Hannan Shah and Gayeshwar, claim to have received a message from Khaleda Zia that Delwar’s course of action was not correct and appropriate and Delwar might be punished or at least castigated for his mistakes.   
The sources said Khandaker Delwar Hossain would lead BNP in both the dialogues with the Election Commission and with the government.
The anti-Delwar camp in BNP, meantime, has taken a new strategy to hold control over the party. Right at this moment, they are not talking against Delwar Hossain; rather they have resorted to launch a campaign against Rizvi Ahmed, believed to be the close associate of Delwar. 
The group was trying to convince Begum Zia to put Rizvi aside from the party post by saying, “Rizvi was working for some forces. It is to be noted that the same group earlier published a leaflet urging the party men to save the party from the clutches of the “Rizvi and Delwar axis”.
However, it seems that Begum Zia has in the meantime correctly identified the various players of the political games within the party. Though Hannan Shah met Khaleda after around five days of her release, Gayeshwar is yet to get permission to meet her.     
Meanwhile, the party has kept both the interim government and the Election Commission waiting to hold electoral dialogues with it.
While the government and the commission are expected to hold dialogues with BNP at the earliest, the party wants both of them to sit separately with its allies to discuss electoral issues.
Although the commission, which hopes to complete the dialogue with BNP this week and announce specific dates for the upazila, Dhaka City Corporation and parliamentary elections, was expecting that the party would propose a date for the talks, the party pushed the ball into the commission’s court, saying the commission should set a date for the dialogue.
"We (BNP and allies) are a pro-election alliance. We are interested to join the dialogues to ensure the holding of fair, credible and participatory parliamentary elections first. But it will not be done if only we are invited [to the dialogue] and our allies are not," BNP Secretary General Khandaker Delwar Hossain told reporters after the maiden meeting of the top leaders of the alliance after one-eleven.
Sources said, the meeting decided that the party would not further communicate with the commission unless the EC invites them again. The meeting also discussed the agenda of the dialogue with both the commission and the government.
Sources present at the meeting said the alliance would strongly stand in both the dialogues in favour of holding the general elections before all other tasks and the emergency must go before the election. 
The BNP chairperson, Khaleda Zia, presided over the two-hour meeting that began at 3:30pm on Tuesday. The last meeting of the alliance was held on January 9, 2007, two days before the promulgation of the state of emergency.
The meeting was scheduled to be held in the BNP’s central office at Naya Paltan, but the venue was shifted to the house of journalist Shafiq Rehman at Eskaton to avoid onrush of party leaders and activists in the party office and since on last Saturday the party chairperson had trouble climbing the stairs there.  Party insiders said the party was looking for a suitable house to rent in the city for setting up a secluded office for the party chairperson.
BNP chief Khaleda Zia had used a house on Road 13 in the city’s Banani area as her office, which was more known as Hawa Bhaban, from 2000 until her arrest on September 3, 2007. The rental contract for the same house no longer exists.
Party sources said they are searching for a suitable house in Eskaton, Dhanmondi, Mohakhali, Gulshan and Banani areas.
Until such an office is available, Khaleda may use the Eskaton office of Bangla fortnightly Mouchake Dhil, edited by Shafiq Rehman, as her temporary office and hold important meetings there, sources close to Khaleda said.