Bangladesh's 14-party opposition combine led by the major Awami League (AL) on Monday rejected the offer of the ruling four-party Islamist alliance for reforms talks.

"We had hope that you will not include such representative in the four-member committee from the government side, which can harm the dialogue. We want to say clearly, you have included members, who had opposed the country's liberation...which in principal cannot acceptable to the people," AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil said in a letter on Monday sent to Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Secretary General of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is leading the four-party alliance. This letter is in reply to Mannan's letter on April 28 giving names of four members to represent the government side.

Jalil said this sort of committee is not acceptable politically and with this committee no fruitful dialogue would be possible. He said this will also buy time and would create bitterness.

The 14-party opposition combine has been demanding reforms in the caretaker government and Election Commission (EC) for holding a clean general election due in January next year.

They say the man, who will head the caretaker government, is a government supporter and the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Abdul Aziz and two of his deputy are BNP activists. With these men in the caretaker government and EC, no clean election would be possible. "So, without reforms we will not join the election," the 14-party opposition leaders said.

In Bangladesh caretaker government supervises the general election since 1996.

BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan on April 28 sent the main opposition AL a letter, including the names of its four-party Islamist alliance partners, whom AL-led 14-party combine have been opposing saying they will not sit with the men, who opposed the independence of the country and aided Pakistani forces during the country's liberation war in 1971.

After receiving the BNP letter, the AL said they felt surprised and disappointed, they said they would be in the streets to force the government of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to go for the reform of the caretaker government system, which supervises the country's general elections and reform of the EC.

Jamaat-e-Islami and Islami Oikya Jote are the major partners of the ruling BNP. The opposition 14-party combine leaders blamed the two partners of BNP opposed the independence war so they cannot sit with them to discuss reforms of the caretaker government system and the EC.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil earlier in a letter to BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan had requested not to include the names of any member of Jammat-e-Islami and Islamic Oikya jote.

Source: Xinhua