AL demands unconditional dialogue

Calling for initiation of dialogues between the government and political parties, the Awami League (AL) yesterday said neither the political parties nor the caretaker government should place conditions for the dialogue.
It said the dialogues are necessary to end the current political, social and economical crises in the country.
"We do not want to impose any condition and it [the government] should also not impose any. The dialogue must be open and held without further delay," said Awami League Presidium Member Tofail Ahmed at a discussion at the party's central office on Bangabandhu Avenue.
Awami League organised the discussion to demand immediate trial of the killers of former finance minister Shah AMS Kibria. Kibria, a veteran parliamentarian, who was once a bureaucrat and a diplomat, was killed on January 27, 2005 in a grenade attack in Habiganj.
Tofail demanded the government allow the UN to investigate
the Kibria killing and the grenade attack case.
"Among other things, issues including how a free, fair and credible election could be held without the influence of black money and muscle power and how the caretaker government could hand over power to an elected government peacefully can be discussed at the dialogue," Tofail said.
The nation is going through a critical time and time is running out, he said adding that there is no alternative to holding the dialogue.
At the discussion, Awami League leaders said the killing of Kibria was part of a long-term plot of the BNP-Jamaat coalition to annihilate the entire Awami League leadership.
Chaired by Awami League Presidium Member Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, the meet demanded that the real killers and patrons are brought to book immediately and awarded stern punishment.
Awami League Presidium Member Amir Hossain Amu said it was clear that the anti-liberation forces were behind all the killings including the intellectuals on December 14, 1971, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on August 15, 1975, four national leaders in jail on November 3, 1975, and the August 21 massacre in 2004.
On the bomb attack on former Dhaka University Teachers Association president Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique's home, Amu demanded the attackers be arrested and punished.
He also demanded release of detained party chief Sheikh Hasina, Abdul Jalil, Sheikh Selim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Obaidul Quader, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Mohammad Nasim, and other detained senior leaders.
Abdur Razzak said the BNP-Jamaat coalition resorted to political killings and grenade attacks in its last tenure in a bid to eliminate Awami League and win the stalled January 22, 2007 election. He demanded bringing the war criminals to justice.
Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta urged the government to seek fresh charge sheets against the real killers and patrons of cases including the grenade attack and Kibria killing case.
Awami League leader Motia Chowdhury said those who have been nabbed in connection with different killing cases and the grenade attack case were related to Jamaat-e-Islami.
Acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam said people are questioning why the government does not take proper initiatives to bring the killers of Kibria and the people involved in the grenade attack on AL rally to justice when it can finish trying the teachers and students of Dhaka and Rajshahi universities within a short time.
Awami League leaders Mukul Bose, Abdul Mannan, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed, Col (retd) Faruk Khan, Dr Abdur Razzak and Kibria's son Reza Kibria also spoke at the discussion.