DHAKA, 22 October 2007 — The army-backed caretaker government in Bangladesh yesterday turned down a proposal by Awami League (AL) for talks with political parties saying it would affect the neutral character of the interim administration.

Mainul Hosein, law adviser to the interim government, said there was no need for talks with political parties. He was responding to a statement by Awami League acting General Secretary Syed Asharful Islam who had suggested that the government should talk to political parties to resolve political issues. The Election Commission has invited political parties for talks on electoral reforms, but the Awami League leader suggested that political parties should hold talks with the government and not the Election Commission.

Islam earlier said his party was planning to send a formal proposal to the government for talks with the Awami League on current political issues.

Army Chief’s Remarks

Politicians, still keeping a low profile under Bangladesh’s emergency rules, said yesterday they felt relieved by the army chief’s renewed pledge to stay out of politics.

The remarks over the past two days by Gen. Moeen U. Ahmed, now visiting Europe and the United States, made headlines in Bangladeshi newspapers and were broadcast on television.

“He (Moeen) did the right thing that a patriotic army chief should do,” Khandaker Delwar Hossain, secretary-general of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, said.

Zillur Rahman, acting general secretary of the other major party, the Awami League, said the nation felt “greatly relieved” by the assurances given by Moeen that he had no intention to enter politics or even take a political role at the end of his military job.

Moeen, in remarks made to Bangladesh media representatives in Britain and the United States, said the army was just helping the country’s interim authority to fight corruption and hold a free and fair election by the end of next year.

“We (the army) are not governing the country. Like others, we have been only helping the government as part of the government,” Moeen said in New York.

“Some people sought to insist that we should impose martial law ... though I’ve repeatedly moved to make the army’s position clear,” the daily Star, a Dhaka-based English language newspaper, quoted him as saying.