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Please act sensibly

5 July 2006, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Arafat Islam, Dallas, USA
5 July 2006, 18:00 PM
Bangladesh is going through a very menacing political crisis. This was quite expected and our country's top politicians are only to be blamed for it. Both the government and the opposition could have avoided the crisis, if they at all possessed any patriotic feelings towards this country. Different views on electoral reform (from the government and the opposition) are the fundamental reason behind this political unrest. The opposition brought some proposals for changes in the caretaker govt system and also the Election Commission. They have made it clear that they would not participate in the next election without these reforms. They even came back to the parliament for realisation of their demands. The people applauded this step and we started to witness a much more vibrant parliament, a scene which could not be witnessed in the past. The government in a positive way accepted the opposition's proposal for a dialogue regarding the matter, and we also appreciated this step. But soon our politicians showed their lack of sensibility-- the BNP starting the process with the inclusion of two names of Jamaat leaders in their delegation to meet the opposition. The Awami League since then did not accept their offer for dialogue and the crisis has deepened.

The BNP very well knows Awami League's view on the Jamaat and the IOJ, and the government is to be blamed for this problem. Now with three months left before the caretaker administration takes over, the Awami League has started creating disturbance like hartals to make the govt. accept their proposal.

The opposition has started tough agitation programmes which to the common people are nothing but nightmares. Clashes between the police and opposition activists are getting bloodier. One person from each side died during their last clash on July 2. Senior leaders from both camps are blaming each other for this crisis. The general people of the country are getting more and more upset with our politicians. We are paying the ultimate price for their fight. But our selfish politicians never think that way. With election getting closer day-by-day, I think the govt. should now seriously think of ways to sit with the opposition and discuss reforms to the electoral process.

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I request the parties to put an end to this political crisis.

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A question in public mind-- did the party calling hartal assess the success gained and losses incurred in terms of human life and public property? People never got a reply to this question and are unlikely to get it in future.

But the opposition parties will be calling one hartal after another till they come to power. That's the truth of the matter.

AR Choudhry, Uttara, Dhaka