CPB joins call to bar war criminals from polls

Dhaka, Nov 25 (bdprem.com)— The Communist Party of Bangladesh has added its voice to those demanding a bar on known war criminals from taking part in the upcoming elections. Your Ad Here War criminals and anti-liberation elements must be barred from participating in the national elections, CPB chairman Manjurul Ahsan Khan said Sunday. Khan, leading a 10-member delegation, made the comment at the outset of the CPB's electoral reform dialogue with the Election Commission. "We have been nurturing 'an original sin' since the liberation of Bangladesh by not trying the war criminals and anti-liberation elements," Khan said at the meeting. "The war criminals have, on the contrary, been pampered by successive governments." "After Jan 11, everybody has come to know that no wrong-doer is going to have an easy time in this country," he added. Welcoming the CPB delegation, Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda said: "The media has been questioning us lately why we didn't call both BNP factions to the EC dialogue." "We're refraining from meeting all the factions of a party deliberately, even if they are ready and eager to take part in the process." The CPB in its talks recommended direct election to the reserved women's seats, and strictly limiting the election expenditure to within Tk 3 lakh. The delegation also proposed voter registration of permanent residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts as per the CHT Peace Accord.