May 22, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 16, 1429

DHAKA: The head of Bangladesh’s army-backed interim government said on Wednesday that a final round of talks with political parties would steer the nation to democracy through elections in December.

“We hope the talks will yield a good result for all and with a credible election we will be able to return to democracy,” Fakhruddin Ahmed told reporters.

The much awaited talks will begin on Thursday, with three smaller parties meeting government advisers.

“All parties will participate in turns and the talks will help us hold a free, fair and credible election,” Hossain Zillur Rahman, an adviser to the interim government, said.

In a televised speech on May 12, Fakhruddin reiterated that his government would hold a parliamentary election in December.

Former Central Bank Governor Fakhruddin took charges in January 2007, following political violence, and cancelled a controversial election due in the same month.

The Awami League party of detained former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said would announce later whether it would participate in the talks.

A breakaway faction of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the other main party led by another detained former prime minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, said it would join the talks.

Khaleda loyalists said they would decide soon whether to take part.

An adviser to the interim government said that talks without the participation of the two major parties would not be successful. The parties are calling for their leaders to be released from jail to join the talks.

Hasina and Khaleda were both arrested last year on corruption charges, part of a wider anti-graft campaign launched by the interim government, and are currently being held in separate buildings in Dhaka’s sprawling parliament compound.

Both denied the charges, saying those are politically motivated and brought to destroy their political careers.

James F. Moriarty, US ambassador to Dhaka, said that corruption was the most serious obstacle to Bangladesh’s meeting its full economic potential.

“As Bangladesh returns to elected government, it is vital that recent reforms ... are respected by the new leadership,”

Moriarty told a business gathering. —Reuters