Offices of all parties except BNP open

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Premises of the BNP (left) and Awami League central offices in the city pulsated with life Monday following the lifting of ban on indoor politics. —FE photos

Barring central office of the apparently bifurcated BNP, other political party offices opened Monday following the CA's announcement lifting ban on indoor politics after a half-year break, reports UNB.
Awami League (AL), Jamaat-e-Islami, Jatiya Party, Workers Party, JSD and CPB opened their central offices and their leaders and workers turned up in their party headquarters, for a resumption of politicking within limitations as the state of emergency is still in force.
Police, however, kept the BNP central office locked and did not allow newly appointed BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain, standing-committee member RA Gani and other leaders to enter the office on the pretext that prior permission was not sought from the police authority.
BNP Assistant Office Secretary Rizvee Ahmed went to the Police Commissioner's office and waited two hours and a half there, but didn't get permission to open the party office put under lock and key when the ban on politics had been slapped under the state of emergency.
More than 100 helmeted police were posted outside the BNP central office at Naya Paltan where hundreds of party workers thronged since 9.00 am.
BNP standing-committee member RA Gani, ex-MPs Maj (retd) Akhtaruzzaman, Sohrab Uddin, Shirin Sultana, Helen Zerin Khan, Rehana Akhtar Ranu, Saimun Begum, Fahima Hossain Jubilee, Bilkis Shirin, Advocate Wahida and Nurjahan Yasmin Bulbul were present outside the office.
Delwar posed a question to the government why he was not allowed to work in his party office despite the withdrawal of ban on indoor politics.
"Why permission will be required for the BNP secretary general to work in his party office? We've come to the office, but the main gate of the office is kept locked," he said addressing the crowd of party leaders and workers outside.
Acting AL general secretary Mukul Bose went to the AL offices at Dhanmondi and Bangabandhu Avenue, following the relaxation of the relevant emergency rule guiding political activity.
Witnesses said more than a hundred workers entered the central office without any obstruction by police. They chanted slogans against Mukul Bose, prompting him to leave the place quickly. The workers also demanded Hasina's release.
Huge contingents of police personnel were deployed around the party's central office.
Workers Party president Rashed Khan Menon, talking to reporters at his party office, demanded withdrawal of the state of emergency, claiming that the present situation and circumstances do not call for continuing emergency.
"The Chief Adviser assured that national elections would be held in 2008, but we are not noticing any sign of holding the polls before 2008," he said.
Menon said the government lifted ban on indoor politics on a limited scale, with strict conditions binding the political activities. "But the government should fully open politics. It is not possible to establish democracy by not trusting the political parties," he observed.
JSD leaders Mainuddin Khan Badal, Syed Jafar Sajjad and Shirin Akhter were, among others, present at the office.
On the other hand, the police did not allow the offices of political parties in other major cities to open Monday as the lifting of the ban on indoor politics applied only to Dhaka.
Explaining the logic of opening indoor politics only in the capital, Law Adviser Mainul Hosein said, "It's too early to start politics at divisional level. If chaos starts all over the country it would be impossible for the government to control it."
Many political leaders in divisional headquarters went to open their offices Monday morning as chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed did not mention in Sunday's address to the nation that the ban on politics had been relaxed only for Dhaka.
The government later said in a notice that the parlour politics has been allowed for the capital.