Awami League MPs to take oath

By Our Special Correspondent

DHAKA, OCT. 20. Though the Awami League has called the election results as ``manipulated under a blue print'', the 62 MPs-elect of the party will take their oaths shortly indicating a shift from their earlier decision to boycott parliament.

The MPs-elect are expected to take their oaths before the inaugural session of the eighth Parliament on October 28 before the Speaker, Mr. Abdul Hamid, an Awami League member, a close aide of the party chief, Sheikh Hasina, said on condition of anonymity. But he also said the decision will be finalised at a crucial party working committee meeting on October 22. The decision to take oath was not because the Awami League had accepted the poll results but a strategy to wage a ``last battle'' against ``religious traders and terrorists'' and ``to restore the people's right of franchise,'' said party insiders.

The nine-day old Government of Begum Khaleda Zia, meanwhile, is facing its first major problem following post-poll violence by her party and alliance supporters against minorities and political opponents.

Though the intensity of the atrocities has come down, thousands of Awami League supporters and members of the minority community fear further attacks if they returned to their homes. The immediate-past Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, was reportedly approached by various powerful quarters recently requesting her to accept the poll results.

But it was still not known whether the Awami League MPs would attend the parliament session since the party felt that its electoral victory had been ``snatched under a blue print'' and ``national and international lobbies'' were involved in obstructing secular democratic and pro-liberation forces from returning to power.

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Section  : International
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