​Talks to end poll stand-off fail, strike in Bangla

DHAKA: BNP chief Khaleda Zia on Saturday turned down Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's invitation for talks on Sunday to defuse a crisis over the upcoming general election but said she was open to dialogue after an opposition sponsored 60-hour nationwide shutdown . Hasina and Zia spoke on the phone on Saturday — believed to be their first conversation in at least a decade — to explore possibilities of a dialogue after failed attempts by the PM to talk to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief earlier in the day.

Zia agreed to hold talks after the shutdown ends on October 29. Explaining the BNP's position, Zia's press secretary Maruf Kamal Sohel said that the opposition leader "accepted" the premier's invitation but deferred the proposed talks by saying "the dialogue can be held after the hartal (strike)".

During her 37-minute phone call to Zia, PM Hasina had said, "Please withdraw the 60-hour strike as I am sincere about a dialogue to ensure an inclusive election. Come to my residence with as many of your leaders as you want. Let us talk frankly," Hasina was quoted as saying by B D News portal.

"We will hold talks but cannot withdraw the hartal," Zia was quoted as telling the premier . Officials familiar with the conversation said that Zia told Hasina it would be difficult for her to travel during the strike called by her party from Sunday morning to mount pressure on the government to hold polls under a neutral caretaker set-up .