AL will sit with EC only once Zillur

The Awami League (AL) will sit with the Election Commission (EC) only once on Sept 9, to press home its demands for lifting emergency, holding parliamentary polls ahead of any other and repealing the Representation of the People Order (Amendment) Ordinance, reports bdnews24.com.brAL acting president Zillur Rahman and acting general secretary Syed Ashraful Islam told journalists of their decision Wednesday.brAKM Salimullah, EC deputy secretary (law) and officer in charge of the dialogue process, also said Wednesday that AL had intimated that they would not be attending the Sept 4 meeting as indicated earlier, but will attend the Sept 9 meeting according to the dialogue schedule.brThe AL sent a letter addressed to the CEC on Aug 20 seeking a date to clarify matters on upazila and parliamentary polls. brAfter receiving the letter, the EC invited AL policy makers on Sept 4 to discuss the issues mentioned in the letter.brIt was also decided that the EC would hold yet another round of dialogue with parties to discuss the new RPO ordinance. AL's meeting as part of this dialogue process was set for Sept 9.brAs a number of our presidium members including Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury and Tofail Ahmed have fallen ill, we decided to skip the September 4 meeting. We have decided to go for the September 9 meeting and discuss all the issues at a time instead, Zillur Rahman said at his Gulshan residence at noon.brZillur said the AL plans to meet its 14-party allies starting Thursday and Friday to discuss the talking points with them before they sit with the EC.brAsked if Sheikh Hasina's return date has been confirmed, Syed Ashraful replied (Hasina) had said she would return home in the first week of October. But I gather that she might come back earlier once her treatment cycle is completed.brEarlier in the day, former AL lawmaker Kamal Ahmed Mojumdar met Zillur Rahman. He was released from Kashimpur jail Tuesday, after being arrested the night emergency was proclaimed in 2007.