Hold dialogue or face tough agitation

BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday criticised ruling Awami League leaders for rejecting BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's recent call for holding dialogue regarding future polls.
"Dialogue is the only way to solve the ongoing crisis of the country,"

Fakhrul told reporters yesterday after placing wreaths at the grave of the party founder, late president Ziaur Rahman, at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar with the leaders of the new committee of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal.
He warned the government of tougher movements if the BNP chief's call for holding dialogue for polls was not realised.
On Sunday, Khaleda Zia told an EU delegation at her Gulshan office that her party was ready for dialogue with the government any time to reach a consensus on holding an inclusive parliamentary election.
However, the next day ruling party leaders, including its advisory council member Suranjit Sengupta and joint general secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif, on different occasions dismissed the possibility of any talks before 2019, saying the country did not have a situation that warranted dialogue.

They also asked the BNP leadership to wait till 2019 when the next parliamentary election is due to be held. Before that, there is no scope for dialogue regarding polls, but talks can be held on important national issues, they said.
Referring to the dialogue before the January 5 polls, Fakhrul said the AL had made this kind of remark before the polls but later it sat with the BNP twice, particularly after the visit of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Dhaka.