Bangladesh upholds ban on party leader

“The EC has rejected Ershad’s appeal,” said a leader of his Jatiya Party. Commission officials told reporters they reviewed the appeals filed on Friday and found them unacceptable.

“This has confirmed that there is no rule of law in Bangladesh,” said Ershad, now visiting his home town of Rangpur in the north of the country.

“The EC and the (interim) government act as per instructions of their higher authority,” said Ershad, referring to immediate past prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, whose five-year term ended in October.

“Under the circumstances, we (Jatiya Party) will not participate in the parliamentary elections,” the former army strongman said. The poll is set for Jan. 22 and the country is being run by an interim government in the meantime.

Ershad is allied with another former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who heads the Awami League, the main opposition party for the past five years.

“The country at the moment does not have a congenial election atmosphere,” said senior Awami leader Obaidul Quader on Sunday.

Asked whether the Awami League might boycott the polls, Quader said: “We are weighing everything but no decision has been made yet.”

The Supreme Court last Tuesday ordered Ershad to give himself up and upheld a two-year jail term for squandering state funds while he was in power in a deal to buy patrol boats from Japan.

Ershad refused to turn himself in.

Khaleda’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party said she would kick off formal campaigning for the polls on Sunday at the northeastern holy town of Sylhet.

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