Dhaka: Bangladesh's interim government is expected to came up with a crucial announcement after its apparently inclusive overnight talks with former premier Khaleda Zia's BNP and her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina's Awami League on the 48-hour ultimatum to lift the emergency.

"We will sit with the chief adviser (Fakhruddin Ahmed) today to chart our next course of action," Foreign adviser of the interim administration told reporters late last night after frantic parleys until midnight visibly failed to bring the two parties close to a consensus about rescheduling the general election.

Five senior advisers of the emergency-ruled Bangladesh s interim administration met Zia and Hasina last night to reach an all party consensus as Bangladesh Nationalist Party threatened to boycott the polls planned for December 18 unless their four-point demand was not met by today.

Apart from their demand for complete lifting of the state of emergency and deferring the poll date, the BNP four-point included suspension of some clauses in the amended Representation of the People Order (RPO) that allows election commission to scrap candidacies during polls.

But the government and political sources said the BNP stuck to its demand for postponing the poll at least until mid-January next year to enable Hajj pilgrims to cast their votes on their return from Saudi Arabia in January, alongside complete withdrawal of the emergency.

Source : PTI