HASINA RULES OUT NEW TALKS WITH INTERIM MINISTERS

C O N F I D E N T I A L DHAKA 006763

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

REL GBR, AUS, CAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/10/2016
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM BG
SUBJECT: HASINA RULES OUT NEW TALKS WITH INTERIM MINISTERS


Classified By: DCM Geeta Pasi, reason para 1.4 d.


1. (C) Summary. As the army deployed today nationwide "to
aid civil administration," Awami League president Sheikh
Hasina told Ambassador there is no point in resuming talks
with Caretaker Government advisers because "they know our
position and they know what to do." Publicly, the Awami
League has taken a wait-and-see approach on army deployment,
but Hasina anticipates a lopsided focus on her party. The
Awami League is working with the Election Commission on
updating the voter list, but its experiences so far are not
encouraging, she said. End Summary.


2. (C) On December 10, Ambassador and British High
Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury called on Awami League president
Sheikh Hasina. The meeting had been scheduled over the
weekend to press her, and in a separate meeting tonight, her
counterpart at the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, Khaleda Zia,
for flexibility on a compromise package to end the election
impasse. However, the meeting was overtaken by the two
parties' subsequent repudiation of key elements of the
package, particularly whether controversial Election
Commissioner Zakaria would stay or go.


3. (SBU) In addition, late December 9, President Ahmed,
against apparently the unanimous view of his advisers,
ordered the nationwide deployment of the army "to aid civil
administration" and pre-empt the opposition's planned mass
sit-in today at the presidency. Police have invoked
legislative powers to ban any form of demonstrations in the
vicinity of the presidency until further notice.


4. (C) Hasina, who atypically was alone for most of the
meeting, told the two heads of mission that the voter list
update is not going well. An Awami League-led delegation,
she said, would present its concerns to the Election
Commission later today but she doubted they would receive a
positive response. She cited an instance reported in today's
press where 5,000 Awami League supporters in one Dhaka
constituency were reportedly dropped from the list in one
strongly pro-Awami League ward, and said Awami League voters
are having trouble getting local officials to add their names
to the list.


5. (C) Regarding the army deployment, Hasina noted that the
opposition, at the request of Caretaker Government advisers,
had already deferred today's planned sit-in at the
presidency. She attributed the deployment to President
Ahmed's alleged subservience to the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party, which she said would benefit from troops in the
streets because of the army's pro-BNP bias. She echoed the
public remarks of Awami League leaders last night that they
would wait to see if the army acted in a nonpartisan manner,
but said her fears were fueled by the raid last night of her
cousin's house in the provincial city Barisal by troops
looking for weapons and their failure to pay similar
attention to a local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist
Party who, she said, was notorious for violent, criminal
activity.


6. (C) Asked what lay ahead, Hasina stated there was no point
in further talks with the Caretaker Government advisers.
"They know our position, and they know what to do."


7. (C) Comment: Contacts report that the Bangladesh
Nationalist Party, fed up with shifting opposition demands
and bottom lines, pushed for army deployment almost in a fit
of pique. The good news is that emergency rule was not
invoked, and the Awami League is biding its time before
criticizing the generally well-regarded military. The
situation is fluid, though, in part because the former ruling
alliance may have finally lost its patience, and because the
Awami League is, by all evidence, improvising its strategy as
it goes along.
BUTENIS