The
son of Bangladesh's ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said he was happy
with the army chief's timeline for elections within 18
months, though it was later than expected, but warned that genuine reform and
polls were impossible without her party.
General
Waker-uz-Zaman, whose refusal to stand by Hasina in the face of
deadly student protests prompted her flight to India in August, has told
Reuters that democracy should return within a year to a year-and-a-half.
"I'm
happy to hear we have an expected timeline at least now," Hasina's son and
adviser, Sajeeb Wazed, told Reuters late on Tuesday.
"But
we have seen this play out before where an unconstitutional, unelected
government promises reform and then things only get worse."
He
was referring to Bangladesh's history of coups since independence from Pakistan
in 1971. The most recent was in 2007, when the military backed a caretaker
government that ruled until Hasina took power two years later in a tenure that
ran 15 years.
With
the police left in disarray after Hasina fled, the powerful army took a key
role in subsequent events, with Zaman saying he meets the head of the interim
government each week as the military backs its stability efforts.
The
two main political parties, Hasina's Awami League and its bitter rival,
the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), have
both called for elections to be held within three months of the interim
government taking office in August.
The
south Asian nation's unelected interim government led by Nobel peace laureate
Muhammad Yunus has promised reforms in the judiciary, police and financial
institutions before elections, but has not set a date for the exercise.
On
Wednesday, Yunus' office said the government would hold talks with political
parties after receiving recommendations from the six reform panels it has set
up.
"Once
the consensus on the reforms is reached and the voter list is prepared, the
date for the vote will be announced," it said in a statement.
The
BNP said it would like elections held at the
earliest opportunity.
Wazed,
who lives in Washington, said neither he nor the interim government had reached
out for talks on the way ahead for the country of 170 million.
"It's
impossible to have legitimate reforms and elections by excluding the oldest and
largest political party," he added.
Hasina
has been sheltering near Delhi since she fled last month. Many other senior
Awami League leaders have either been arrested on accusations of having roles
in the strife that killed more than 1,000 people, or have gone into hiding.
Many
Awami League activists have been killed since Hasina's downfall, Wazed added.
Representatives
of the interim government did not immediately respond to requests for comment
on his statements.
The
head of an election reform panel, Badiul Alam Majumder, said it would make
recommendations within three months following a review.
"It's
up to the government to decide whether to hold talks with the Awami League or
determine the timing of the elections," he added.
Last
month, Wazed told Reuters that Hasina was ready to face trial at home, a demand
made by students who led the uprising, and that the Awami League would like to
fight the elections.
On
Tuesday, asked when Hasina might return home, he replied, "That will be up
to her. Right now I want to keep my party people safe, so I want to raise
international awareness on the atrocities being committed against them by this
Yunus regime."