Leave Jamaat for talks
The ruling Awami League yesterday urged BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to sever ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami if her party wanted a meaningful dialogue with the government.
“There can be a meaningful dialogue if she [Khaleda Zia] declares that she will cut ties with war criminals and shun destructive programmes,” AL's publicity affairs secretary Hasan Mahmud told a press conference at the party chief's Dhanmondi office.
Prime minister's adviser HT Imam echoed similar views.
“The BNP will have to prove that they have cut relations with Jamaat-Shibir and discarded violence. The party will have to earn the trust of the public. Then we'll sit in a dialogue,” he told reporters after a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad at the EC secretariat yesterday.
Meanwhile, talking to The Daily Star over the phone last night, AL Joint General Secretary Mahbubul Alam Hanif thanked BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for her announcement on holding peaceful programmes. The government would render its assistance to that end, he added.
“Realising that the last one year's violence has alienated people, the BNP chief has spoken for peaceful programmes. We thank her as good sense has prevailed in her mind,” mentioned Hanif.
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