The two major political parties, Awami League and Bangladesh Nationalist Party, continued demanding a complete withdrawal of the state of emergency by December 11, the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers, to create an atmosphere conducive to participatory polls.
   The parties are supposed to formally begin electioneering after the withdrawal of candidature.
   The National Human Rights Commission and election observers also stressed the need for total lift of the emergency to protect human rights.
   ‘We had decided to contest the elections on two conditions — complete withdrawal of the state of emergency on the last day for withdrawal of candidature and cancellation or suspension of section 91(e) of the Representation of People Order [2008]. But the government is yet to make any announcement over them, triggering uncertainty over holding the polls,’ BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain said on Saturday.
   ‘We demand the government to announce it specifically. …The candidates and the electorates are yet to be out of fear whether they would be able to execute their voting right,’ he said.
   Asked what would be their next step if the government did not withdraw emergency by December 11, he said the party would decide the next course of action taking into consideration the situation.
   Stressing the need for a total lift of emergency, Awami League presidium member Matia Chowdhury said, ‘Credible polls might not be possible under the state of emergency.’
   The military-controlled interim government imposed the state of emergency on January 11, 2007, suspending fundamental rights of the people.
   Justice Amirul Kabir Chowdhury, chairman of the recently formed National Human Rights Commission, says the sooner the state of emergency is lifted the better it is for all.
   ‘Under a
state of emergency human rights are violated,’ he said while speaking to journalists after a dialogue arranged by the South Asian Institute of Advanced Legal and Human Rights Studies and the French Embassy in Dhaka.
   Asian Network for Free Elections, a Hong Kong-based election observer, said the state of emergency should be lifted latest by the beginning of the campaign for the general elections to ensure an atmosphere conducive to free and fair polls.
   ‘We believe in freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and there should have no restrictions on election campaign. So we think the state of emergency should go from the day the election campaign begins,’ Network’s executive director Somsri Hananuntasuk told a press conference on November 30.
   The UN mission assessing Bangladesh’s pre-election situation favoured the withdrawal of emergency before the elections. ‘It should make sense to lift the emergency. It will be unusual if the elections are held under the state of emergency,’ Francesc Vendrell, the delegation head, told reporters at Hotel Sheraton on November 29.
   Chief election commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda on December 1 hoped that the state of emergency would be lifted at a suitable time before the upcoming elections as the commission had already made a request to the government in this regard.
   ‘We’ve given our opinion to the chief adviser during a meeting with him. The chief adviser agreed with us and assured that the emergency would be withdrawn at a suitable time,’ he told reporters after a meeting with president Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban.
   The armed forces will be deployed countrywide from December 20 ahead of the national elections, army chief Moeen U Ahmed said on Saturday, according to BDNews24.com.
   ‘Army personnel will be in the field for the upcoming national elections from December 20,’ Moeen told reporters in Chittagong.
   Asked when the state of emergency would be lifted, Moeen said, ‘You will see it lifted soon.’


Source: New Age