Oikya Front briefs diplomats about polls situation

Sayeed Muhammad of DOT
Jatiya Oikya Front sat with diplomats of 23 countries working in Bangladesh, to inform them about the country’s current political situation ahead of the December 30 parliamentary election.
The diplomats included the ambassadors of the US and Germany and high commissioner of Australia as the meeting was held in a Dhaka hotel, reports The Daily Star.
While in the meeting, Oikya Front chief Dr Kamal Hossain updated the diplomats about the ongoing spate of attacks and cases filed against the opposition candidates and their supporters.
BNP Standing Committee Member Nazrul Islam Khan, BNP leader Tabith Awal, Gono Forum Executive President Subrata Chowdhury and Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, among others, attended the meeting.
The Front is an alliance of BNP, Dr Kamal Hossain-led Gono Forum, ASM Abdur Rab’s Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, and Mahmudur Rahman Manna’s Nagorik Oikya.
The platform was floated on October 13 with the demands of a national election under a neutral government after dissolution of parliament and release of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is incarcerated in a graft case, from jail.
The 11-point goal announced by the alliance includes ensuring checks and balances in the state power, decentralisation of administration, freeing MPs from the stringent restrictions imposed on them under article 70 of the constitution, formation of a constitutional commission to make appointments to all constitutional and other important posts and full independence of the judiciary.