The Chief Election Commissioner spoke in a cheerful mood on Monday
after a brief meeting with the UN emissary Oscar Fernandez-Taranco,
the second in as many days.
“An important discussion was going on. We wouldn’t talk at this
moment. Discussions are going on, let’s see what actually happens,”
Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad told journalists waiting outside his office.
On Sunday after his first meeting with Fernandez-Taranco, he said
deferring polls would be complicated as the UN envoy was looking for
options to defer polls in an apparent effort to bring major opposition
BNP to elections.
The BNP-led alliance is boycotting Jan 5 elections demanding a
“non-party” cabinet for elections oversight. The ruling Awami League
installed “all-party” cabinet in which BNP did not join.
Fernandez-Taranco arrived on Friday evening and since then has engaged
in hectic parleys with different interlocutors mainly political
leaders of the two conflicting parties.
He has had more than one meeting with leaders of the both camps.
After meeting with the CEC on Monday, the UN envoy for the first time
also spoke to the media.
“There is a possibility of peaceful solution to the current deadlock,” he said.
“…If we have the political will, if we have good leadership, if we
have an attitude to compromise and most importantly if we are able to
engage in a peaceful dialogue (it can be resolved)”.
He, however, said he would speak at a press briefing before leaving
Dhaka on Tuesday. – bdnews24.com
