Editorial
The tone is engaging on both sides
A good sign to build up on
THE major political parties are giving indications of coming unstuck from the icy non-communicative political ambience they have been accustomed to. A three-member team from BNP-led 18-party alliance carried a letter from BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir delivering it to AL secretary general Syed Ashraful Islam urging for talks on Khaleda Zia's formula. They have also had telephonic contact in which Syed Ashraful thanked Mirza Fakhrul for his letter.
The exchange of courtesies and picking up threads from where they were left off following announcement of proposals and counter-proposals by Awami League and BNP augur well. In spite of outright rejection of each other's formula and existence of hiatus between the two proposals, there is clearly an effort on both sides to engage each other rather than magnify their differences.
While lively debates take place over the formulae warming up the political atmosphere, a concern is clearly shared between the major political players to come to terms with their differences on the modalities and character of poll-time government.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her cabinet meeting on Monday indicated that she was ready for 'maximum sacrifice' to break the current political deadlock. She has also asked her party men not to speak in separate voices on the BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia's proposed formula.
For Khaleda's Zia's part, we note that she has pledged to change the culture of vengeful politics once and for all.
The need of the hour is responsible utterances and building confidence across the board to prepare the grounds carefully for a dialogue to take place.
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