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| Bangladesh |
| BNP-Jamaat meet today |
| 2010-06-05 |
| [Bangla Daily Star] The main opposition BNP and its key political ally Jamaat-e-Islami are set to hold a meeting tonight amid wide spread speculation whether the issue of war crimes trial will come up in the discussion. The crucial meet is scheduled to take place at BNP chairperson's Gulshan office, as part of her series of meetings with the like-minded parties and professionals ahead of the party's anti-government move including hartal. A delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami with its chief Motiur Rahman Nizami will meet Khaleda Zia, also the leader of opposition in parliament. Both the parties are going to sit for discussion for the first time after the 2008 election debacle. But curiosity arises among BNP activists whether Jamaat raises the issue of war crimes trial and how BNP leadership reacts to this. Jamaat leaders have given a hint that curiosity also prevails among their party members about how the party will deal if BNP seeks direct support of them to make the anti-government movement successful. "It is the responsibility of all to address this [trial of war criminals] issue as it would be harmful for the country if the government moves forward in this regard," Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, senior assistant secretary general of Jamaat told The Daily Star, adding that an overall political situation will come into their discussion. Asked whether they would support BNP's hartal programme, he said, "The government forced the opposition to announce anti-government movement and we consider it positively, but we will take our decision through proper discussion." Some BNP leaders said the party leadership has no plan to seek direct participation of Jamaat into anti-government campaign. A senior Jamaat leader also said they would not place the issue of war crimes trial on the meeting. "It's a beginning and there is a long time to go. We want to get support from all but the time has not come yet for other parties' direct participation into our anti-government programmes," a senior BNP leader said seeking anonymity. He said the party leadership is very much concerned about the war crimes trial issue but they don't want to take any decision right now as they think the government itself will provoke a lot of controversies and the trial of war criminals will finally plunge into a controversial political issue. BNP standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman said BNP has already expressed its opinion about the government's move as to war crimes trial and there is nothing left to discuss the issue. |
| Posted by:Fred |