Suggestion for a meaningful dialogue

We are heartened by some positive signs being shown by the government in the immediate sequel to Tuesday's events. BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan sounded positive in his reactions: all but one demand of the opposition, namely that for caretaker government reform, are the BNP's demands as well, said he. He promptly offered talks to the opposition both in and out of the parliament.

His counterpart in the opposition AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil suggested, among other things, that the opposition's proposed discussion with the government over reforms in the caretaker government and the EC would have to be held outside the parliament.

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Jalil's insistence on the government's agreeing to reform the caretaker government as a precondition to AL's joining of the parliament and BNP's offering of talks 'on all but caretaker issue' can be viewed as raising of the bargaining stakes by both sides to wrest the maximum advantage from one another. In spite of such 'opposing' positions, there appears to be an underlying intention for talks which needs to be built up on.

The principal bone of contention between the two sides is talks on the reform of the caretaker government system. The question is: why must discussion on the whole gamut of issues be kept in abeyance for the caretaker discord, why hold the talks hostage to one issue?

We really have a way out. There are negotiating points and there are negotiating techniques. If for want of a proper technique the prospects of negotiations are ruined, then the major political parties will only have themselves to blame. We suggest, therefore, that the whole host of opposition demands be grouped into two sets of agenda. Let's put the caretaker issue in one category and the rest, especially the electoral reform proposals, in another category. We then have two separate teams comprising opposition and ruling party negotiators to deal with the separate sets of agenda. As a concession to the opposition let the BNP agree to this two-team formula. As a concession to the government let the AL agree to differentiated talk schedule -- one held before the other, with the contentious one coming later. This way we see the possibility of reaching a mutually satisfactory negotiated settlement in a package at the end.