By IANS
Dhaka : Bangladesh President Iajuddin Ahmed has pardoned university students and teachers convicted for defying emergency regulations in the country.
Simultaneously, Chief Advisor Fakhruddin Ahmed said Monday that the government was ready for a dialogue with political parties.
He added that the elections, scheduled for this year-end, could be advanced if the Election Commission completed its preparations early.
Political parties have vowed to talk to the government only if the two former prime ministers, Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia, who have been held on corruption charges since last July, are freed.
The presidential pardon Monday facilitated the release of four students and three teachers who took to the streets after soldiers beat up students at a football match at the Dhaka University in August last year.
The seemingly trivial incident fuelled nationwide protests that gripped campuses, leaving one person dead.
The presidential pardon came on a day a court acquitted four Dhaka University teachers and 11 students on charges of violating the Emergency Power Rules (EPR) in one of the two cases filed against them.