Caretaker issue to the fore
Nobody can deny that the caretaker issue occupies the time and the mind of each and every concerned Bangladeshi at the present moment, primarily because they see it as the potentially most destabilising matter facing the country. And a fresh initiative on the matter has become imperative.
This paper has repeatedly stated that doing away with the CTG, and especially the process of it -- namely without consultation with the opposition -- has been a mistake. Making selective use of the SC verdict without giving due weightage to its directives that two more elections could be held under the caretaker system, has been extremely impolitic. We fail to understand why the AL failed to grasp the opportunity provided by the SC to mitigate a potentially explosive situation.
In their discussions with the President, except for the AL and the Jatiyo Party (Ershad) all the others have expressed their preference and endorsed the demand for the restoration of the caretaker system including all the other partners of the AL in the grand alliance. The comment of the AL Secretary General, that his party would not be averse to attending dialogue on the CTG issue should the president call for one, as an indication of a move away from the heretofore rigid stand of the party on the issue.
This we consider to be an opening that President must make full use of and call for a dialogue on the caretaker issue. However, we know that the President cannot take such a move without a clear positive signal from the PM. On her part the PM will be well advised to give such a signal because there appears no other way to avoid the inevitable conflict in our politics that we all see is coming.
The President himself should not take an Ostrich-like position and do nothing. We feel that given his exhalted position he could also send some sort of message to the PM that holding a discussion over the caretaker issue would greatly help towards avoiding political clash in the near future.
The President has already shown tremendous maturity and skill in conducting the dialogue among all the political parties which were unique and constructive. If he can help to resolve the crisis centered around the caretaker issue, he will earn an anxious nation's gratitude.
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