Editorial
Government's parley with political parties
Focus on election and transition of power
The announcement by the chief advisor, of the government's intention to hold dialogue with the political parties very soon, has caused a palpable stir amongst the political parties, and rightly so. We welcome the move.
We would like to suggest that the two players in the issue - the government and the political parties - play their roles with sagacity and prudence.
For the government - its position calls for an open minded approach, and there should be an agenda of sorts (reportedly the government will not go by any particular agenda), since no discussion can be open-ended, and all parleys should have one if it aims to come up with concrete resolutions and future course of actions.
As for the political parties they must abjure any impulse to lay down preconditions since doing so would very likely put the spanner in the works, and may scuttle the idea altogether. It would do well for them to keep the forthcoming elections foremost in their mind.
We think that there are several important issue that both may keep in sight during the talks.
The rather sensitive issue, yet one that cannot be avoided, is how to deal with the leaders of the two major political parties awaiting trial for certain alleged offences. Here we feel that election is central to the restoration of democracy and transition of power, and as such nothing should be done, nor preconditions imposed which delay the progress towards holding elections on time.
It would also be well to thrash out all issues related to the forthcoming election, and the government should remove all apprehensions about holding of the election that may still be lingering in the minds of certain political parties.
The very important matter - that of the future character of politics in Bangladesh - the confrontational nature that is responsible for most of the woes we are enduring, must be addressed as must be the possible ways to rid politics of black money and muscle power once and for all. The culture of political boycott, repression on the opposition and frequent and purposeless hartals should also be addressed.
One hopes also that the post election scenario would also feature in the talks, particularly the need for continuity of actions on the many important steps that the caretaker government has so far initiated or will do in future before the elections are held.
We would like to emphasise on the fact that the proposed dialogue is not merely just another event, but a very vital one on which depends the smooth movement along the political roadmap and towards eventual transition and handover of the reins of the government to the elected representatives. None should lose sight of that fact.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments