Online Desk  :   A joint press conference between the government and a political party is a rare instance in history, leaving the country’s other political parties, except BNP, embarrassed, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami said on Wednesday. “We welcome the Yunus-Tarique meeting, but the joint press conference is the matter of our objection, which left most of the political parties in embarrassment,” said Jamaat Nayeb-e-Ameer Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher. While talking to the journalists after attending a programme organised by the National Citizen Party (NCP) in Dhaka, Taher said that his party skipped the National Consensus Commission meeting held on Tuesday on this ground.

Both the interim government-led by Yunus and the consensus commission will face setbacks to reach their desired goal if they lose their impartiality, said the Jamaat leader. Earlier on 13 June, Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus and BNP Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman held a meeting in London and later, it was announced in a joint press briefing that both sides reached a consensus to hold the upcoming national election a week before the Ramadan to be observed in February next year.

The chief adviser made a phone call to the Jamaat ameer to know the party’s absence from Tuesday’s meeting and in response, the Jamaat chief said that he would join talks with the government next, he said. Taher said his party does not desire the government’s failure, rather, it wants its all-out success for the sake of holding a free, fair and credible national election.  The Jamaat leader said that his party favours the formation of a National Constitution Council (NCC) to ensure a check and balance of power at every stage of the state mechanism.