Editorial
Do we see some light?
Yes, if there is sincerity
The increasingly hardening positions of the government and the opposition on the caretaker issue have led us all back to familiar terrain, namely, the involvement of foreign diplomats in attempts to resolve our domestic crises. In recent times, diplomats from the US, EU and China, besides others, have expressed their worries over the stalemate. Their worries have yielded precious little result.
And now into the scene has stepped UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The fact that he has had to take the initiative to call Bangladesh's prime minister and its opposition leader and urge them to resolve their dispute is an embarrassing sign of the depths to which our politics has plunged.
The prime minister has told the UN chief that she will 'welcome any proposal by the opposition in the next JS session'; while the opposition leader has said the 'BNP is ready for dialogue with the government.' On the face of it, this may indicate that Ban Ki-moon may have nudged the two sides towards a dialogue. The reality could well be that everything will falter on the question of who will make the first move. We think that since the ruling party took the decision to scrap the caretaker system, it should from moral and legal points of view make the first move. As for the opposition, we ask again what legal and ethical grounds are there for it to stay away from the JS rather than placing its arguments in it.
For all our despondency, however, we feel there is yet time for Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to turn back from the brink. The UN chief's concern is, in essence, an expression of global worry about our future. Our politicians must get the message loud and clear, if they do not mean to take us all down with them.
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