Talks with parties likely this month

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The caretaker government is likely to begin the much-awaited dialogue with political parties this month.

“The government is presently making preparations to hold the dialogue very soon,” Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim told newsmen yesterday after a meeting of the advisory council at the Cabinet Division in Bangladesh Secretariat.

“I think it will begin this month,” Fahim said in reply to a query at a press briefing at the Press Information Department.

Newspapers had reported that a few advisers were busy holding meetings in the last few days as part of the preparation for the dialogue.

Sources said political parties look forward to raising a number of issues including the parliamentary elections, release of their top leaders, food crisis and price hike of essentials while the caretaker government would want them to reach a consensus about some crucial national issues.

The issue of complete withdrawal of the restrictions on indoor politics across the country will also come up at the talks while a decision on whether to relax or lift the state of emergency might come after the dialogue, the sources added.

Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed chaired yesterday’s cabinet meeting participated by all advisers, except Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury as he is now on a foreign tour, and the special assistants to the chief adviser.

On dialogue preparations, Fahim Munaim said the government is working on several aspects of the dialogue like its type and format, whether to sit with the political parties together or separately.

Asked if the government has its own agenda, Fahim expressed his ignorance “since the details have not been fixed yet”.

The chief adviser will decide who would lead the dialogue from the government side, Fahim said replying to a query.

Asked about an adviser’s statement that the dialogue would take place before or after Pahela Baishakh (April 14), he declined to comment on it.

When a reporter enquired about the government attitude towards political parties’ recent programmes like fasting and statements about movements with the state of emergency in place, Fahim said, “It will be clear through the dialogues whether there is any necessity for these at all. Let us see.”

In his January 12 address to the nation, the chief adviser announced that the council of advisers decided in favour of having a dialogue with the political parties. He also said his administration would soon take steps to that end.

But a number of advisers said later that the talks will not take place before the Election Commission ends its reform talks with the parties.

The Election Commission began its second round talks on February 24 and had discussions with 15 parties in five days. But it could not finish off the job since it must wait for the BNP issue to be resolved in the High Court.

Housing and Public Works Adviser Ghulam Quader recently said the government will not have any special agenda for the dialogue.

The campaign against corruption will go on and the people would decide whether the corrupt would be spared, he added.

On January 14, Quader said the government would consider conditions the political parties might insist upon for the proposed dialogues if they were not “impractical or illogical”.

BNP REACTION
Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah, an adviser to detained BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and a key leader of the faction loyal to her, said the government should release all political leaders including Khaleda and Sheikh Hasina so that they can participate in the dialogue.

“Any dialogue with the name-only parties will not bring any result,” he told The Daily Star yesterday, adding that the government should hold an effective dialogue with important political leaders like the two detained former premiers.

Maj (retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed, acting secretary general of the pro-Saifur faction of BNP, welcomed the government decision to hold the dialogue this month. He expressed hopes that political crises would be resolved and the process to restore democracy will begin through it.

“We want to help the government and it should also have faith on the political parties,” he told The Daily Star last night.

AL REACTION
Awami League (AL) Presidium member Suranjit Sengupta said they want to sit with the government with an open mind and without any condition imposed.

“First, we will want to know the government’s agenda to be discussed with the political parties and accordingly we will take part in the discussion,” he told The Daily Star.

“We will bring up everything for discussion including release of our president, price hike of essentials and elections. We will also ask the caretaker government to hand over power to an elected government as early as possible through holding a free, fair and credible election,” Suranjit added.

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