KHALEDA ZIA ASSURES AMBASSADOR HER PARTY OPPOSES

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 006539

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2016
TAGS: PHUM KDEM BG
SUBJECT: KHALEDA ZIA ASSURES AMBASSADOR HER PARTY OPPOSES
VIOLENCE

REF: DHAKA 06493

Classified By: Ambassador Patricia Butenis, reason para 1.4 d.


1. (SBU) Late November 1, Ambassador and poloff (notetaker)
called on former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia at her residence
on the military cantonment. Morshed Khan, recently Foreign
Minister, and Manan Bhuiyan, secretary general of her
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, were also present.


2. (C) Ambassador noted that during the recent round of
political violence, activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party exercised relative restraint, and that she had raised
her concerns about the opposition's use of violence during
her recent meeting with Awami League president Sheikh Hasina
(reftel). Ambassador also observed that she had flagged
violence as a major concern at an Awami League public
briefing for diplomats earlier in the day. She urged Zia to
continue counseling restraint and to keep in check calls from
party subordinates, including her son Tariq, for a more
aggressive posture.


3. (C) Zia affirmed she opposes violence and her party
workers will not take the offensive, but she must stand up
for them by acknowledging their right to self-defense if
attacked.


4. (C) Zia endorsed Ambassador's point on the importance of
Chief Adviser Ahmed's acting in a visibly non-partisan
manner. She claimed that her party had not submitted any
names or placed any supporters among the advisers named by
Ahmed. (Note: This claim may technically be true, but
according to contacts at the presidency, Zia's party
submitted several names orally.) Zia described Ahmed as an
impartial, non-party man favorably known to her from their
days together, along with the Awami League and Jamaat Islam,
in the anti-Ershad movement in the late 1980s.


5. (C) On the opposition's insistence that Chief Election
Commissioner Aziz resign, Zia replied, "Not possible."
Hasina, Zia complained, had ignored Zia's demand in 2001 as
the then-opposition leader for the resignation of Chief
Election Commissioner Syed, so why should she accommodate
Hasina now? Bhuiyan interjected that Abdul Jalil, his Awami
League counterpart, had assured him during their recent talks
that Justice Hasan was the only obstacle, and that finding
someone else to be Chief Adviser would break the impasse.
Khan charged the Awami League historically pockets
concessions by his party without ever offering any of its own.


6. (C) Asked to predict BNP's election performance, Zia said
her alliance would win 180-190 seats, compared to the 220 it
holds now. This outcome presumes support from the Jatiya
Party, which she said Ershad has already promised her. Zia
insisted that, opposition assertions aside, her party has
strong support from the Hindu community. Khan stated his
constituency is 38 percent Hindu, adding that the new
generation of Hindu voters is more independent and open to
his party.
BUTENIS