Bangladesh

UN chief sets up panel to assess Bangladesh polls

Ban Ki-moon United Nations, Nov. 22 : United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a high-level team to scrutinize the staging of parliamentary elections in Bangladesh next month.

According to a China View report, the panel has been tasked with assessing the preparations and conduct of the elections through visits to Bangladesh before and during the elections.

Bangladesh considers changing December poll dates

BangladeshDhaka - Bangladesh's election authorities have began fresh talks with major political groups to seek a consensus on changing the December election date, officials said Saturday.

Chief Election Commissioner ATM Shamsul Huda was expected to meet leaders of the Awami League-led alliance to discuss their main rival's call to move the poll date from December 18 to December 28.

The leaders of Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance on Friday demanded the new election, as well as lifting the state of emergency and a review of electoral laws that allow election authorities to cancel candidacies.

Pakistanis, Bangladeshis most involved in forced marriage cases in the UK

Pakistanis, Bangladeshis most involved in forced marriage cases in the UKLondon, Nov. 22 : Doubts are being expressed in British Government circles about a new law that will see the minimum age at which foreigners can come to Britain to get married being increased.

There is a view that this law will invite opposition from immigrant communities, particularly Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who have been involved in most forced marriage cases in the country.

UN team to help Bangladesh's electoral process

New York  - A three-member United Nations panel is scheduled to visit Bangladesh next week to assist the caretaker government there in organizing parliamentary elections, the UN said Friday.

The Bangladeshi government requested UN help to assess the situation and make preparations for the elections in December. The panel will visit the country Sunday to November 29.

The UN said the panel will "assess the preparations and conduct of the elections through visits to Bangladesh before and during the elections."

Feuding Bangladeshi leaders exchange first greetings in 18 years

Dhaka, BangladeshDhaka  - Former Bangladeshi prime ministers and arch political rivals Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia exchanged greetings Friday at a reception to honour the country's military. It was their first face-to-face meeting in 18 years.

Private television channels aired live footage of the two meeting at the Armed Forces Day reception in Senakunja in the Dhaka cantonment. They shook hands and exchanged small talk.

Bangladesh's ex-premier Zia willing to join a delayed election

Dhaka - Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia Thursday night announced that her party and allies would join the December election if the poll was deferred by 10 days.

"We will definitely join the elections if they take place on December 28," Zia, who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led four-party alliance, told a press conference.

She also asked the country's military-backed government to launch fresh round of talks to ensure participation of all the parties in the election to return the South Asian nation to democracy.

The interim administration on Tuesday reaffirmed that it would hold parliamentary and local government elections according to schedule on December 18 and 28 respectively.

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