Editorial
PM's repudiation of military rule welcome
Isn't the onus largely on her to avert it?
THE Prime Minister has asserted yet again that 'she would not allow unconstitutional forces to grab state power again. She wouldn't want martial law either.' We couldn't agree more with her.
However, under two sets of circumstances state power is usurped by unconstitutional forces: One, when ambitious militarymen invent excuses to grab it at gunpoint. The second set of circumstances has to do with the situation getting out of control of the political leadership through their own blunders much to the mortification of democracy lovers.
We condemn with all the force at our command the heinous burning and arson campaign of the opposition, which they have to take the responsibility for and call an immediate halt to. At the same time, we cannot overlook the lack of any genuine effort for a dialogue on the part of the ruling party coupled with the jailing of the bulk of BNP central leadership or forcing them into immobilisation.
The PM's cardinal mistake has been unsettling of a settled issue centred on the nonpartisan caretaker provision which she unilaterally abolished by the 15th amendment. She knew full well the opposition couldn't accept it, and yet she pushed it down its throat. It is for her now to meet the opposition halfway and accommodate their demand for a head of poll time government acceptable to both sides.
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