Stop unilateral polls, civil society to UN

Members of the civil society have urged the United Nations to take initiatives in stopping the one-sided elections. They made the urge at the meeting with visiting UN envoy Oscar Fernandez-Taranco at Sonargaon Hotel on Sunday afternoon. “Stop the unilateral polls,” Dr Kamal Hossain told Taranco. Dr Shahdin Malik said: “Nobody wants a one-sided election. We want an election like 2008 when 87% vote was cast.” Among the civil society leaders present were Dr Kamal Hossain, Shadhik Mallik, Badiul Alam Majumder and Zamilur Reza Chowdhury. The envoy is in Dhaka at the deputation of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for what is being said “to broker a political deal” ahead of Bangladesh’s elections. On Saturday, the UN envoy met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and asked if the January 5 elections can be deferred. He supported polls inside constitutional limits. However, the main opposition BNP, who want elections under a non-partisan government and out of line with the constitution, kept mum about their meeting with Taranco. The UN envoy’s visit comes in short difference to the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh. Earlier, US President Barack Obama had asked his officials to “ramp up talks” with India over the Bangladesh issue ahead of the January 5 elections.