Mahfuz Anam commentary

countryman · Gold Discusser Joined: 28 Nov 2006 Posts: 27

Khaleda, Hasina must live up to the Nation's expectations
Mahfuz Anam

We are greatly heartened by Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina's acceptance of President/CA's invitation for a one-to-one talk today afternoon. We commend Prof. Iajuddin for the initiative and thank the BNP and AL chiefs for responding to it. This should have been done on the very first day of the caretaker government. Anyway it is better late than never.

Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia are the two undisputed leaders of our country. The two parties that they head are the two biggest political parties and over the last three general elections it has been proven over and over again that each of them command more than 35 per cent votes each, together accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the loyalty of our voters. By any account these are massive expression of public confidence in them.

The mistake they have both made in the past is to think that when one party wins majority seats in the parliament the other party disappears or become devoid public support. It is this mistake, repeated over and over, that made both the BNP and the AL, to ignore each other when either of them came to power. This mutual ignoring lies at the root of most of our present political problems. Even in 2001, when BNP and its allies got two third majority seats in the parliament, the AL had gotten 41 per cent of popular votes. BNP totally ignored this fact.

This is not really the time to recount how the BNP or the AL has repeatedly gone wrong. This is the time to spell out how they can finally get it right. Therefore our ardent appeal to both the leaders is that please do not continue to live in the world as if the other does not exist.

Khaleda Zia is wrong when she says election should go ahead without regard to which party comes to the elections (meaning the AL) and which party does not. An election without the AL will not be a credible one and it will neither be acceptable to the nation nor to the international community.

Sheikh Hasina is wrong when she says that she will impose indefinite blockade till her demands are met. A blockade harms the very people she hopes to represent, and an indefinite blockade makes it infinitely worse.

Therefore the first thing we urge both the leaders to remember during their talks with the President/CA that they cannot ignore the other. We understand that both leaders have their points of view, they have a huge list of complaints against the other, and that they have made many unkind remarks about each other. We also understand that over the years they have become personally bitter about each other. We also understand that all their political problems, including personal issues, cannot be solved in today's meeting. We understand all that.

However, they must also understand that howsoever they may feel about each other, how ever far apart their views might be and whatever their political differences may be, in the final analysis they are LEADERS OF THE PEOPLE and they MUST LISTEN to what the PEOPLE WANT. And the plain truth is people are SICK and TIRED of the political bickering of these two leaders. They are tired of the attempts to manipulate the election; they are tired of the corruption and the presence of criminals among the lawmakers and political workers. They are also tired of the blockades, hartals and disruption of normal life. Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina can stop all this and they must stop all this-if they have any feelings for the people they claim to speak for.

Therefore the need of the moment is to compromise. Each of them will have to move away from their entrenched positions. Each of them will have to understand that the points of view of the other side have some merit and that neither of them enjoys either the monopoly of truth or of virtues. They both have made mistakes, severe mistakes at that, for which we the people have been paying dearly.

Their compromise will aim at clearing all the impediments towards a free and fair election, which must be held and if possible in time, or at best as soon as possible through a mutual agreement. The points of compromise should cover: a) Making the election commission more credible;

b) making the voter list more correct; c) making the election related administration more neutral; c) saying no to blockades, hartals and all moves that harm the economy.

These compromises should not been seen from any partisan point of view. These are the minimum requirements of any election that can claim to be free and fair.

The moment is now and both leaders must seize it. This is the test of their leadership. Leaders show new paths. Only power hungry people stay entrenched in their myopic world even when they see their country is being destroyed.

The President/CA must provide the environment for frank talks. He must insist that both leaders must compromise. He cannot just be a silent host. He will have to play a proactive role in which he will have to insist that the nation cannot continue to suffer the consequences of what these two leaders and their parties are doing.

The Nations hopes are pinned on today's meetings. We urge both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia to rise to the occasion.

Source: The Daily Star
http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/12/02/d6120201033.htm

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