June 19, 2008	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 14, 1429

DHAKA: Bangladesh’s military-backed government said on Wednesday it would relax some state of emergency restrictions ahead of local council elections slated to be held next month.

“We have finalised some concrete proposals to relax the existing emergency laws,” Commerce Minister Hussain Zillur Rahman said, declining to elaborate.

Details of the decision would be announced within a couple of days, he said.

Under the state of emergency imposed in January 2007, protests, rallies and public gatherings are banned.

Bangladesh’s election commissioner Shakhawat Hussein has said the staggered local council polls will start in July.

The government, which took power after general elections were cancelled and a state of emergency imposed, is keen to hold the local polls before it stages parliamentary elections in December.

The country’s two major political parties — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Awami League — have opposed the council elections.They say the emergency government should first stage the parliamentary elections and allow an elected authority to hold local polls.

The country’s election commission is scheduled to announce on June 20 dates for the municipal elections to be held in four cities and nine towns, commission spokesman Asaduzzaman said. —AFP