Sunday World 1

Dialogues enter uncharted waters

Govt, parties drive hard bargains

Nazrul Islam

The ongoing dialogues between the military-controlled government and political parties seem to have entered uncharted waters with the incumbents trying to impose their own agenda under cover of reforms and major parties pressing for release of their top leaders before parliamentary polls. Qualitative changes in politics by way of reforms – the avowed objective of the government-sponsored protracted dialogue – have apparently been sidelined with stakeholders trying to drive hard bargains for gains. The government seems to have entered behind-the-scenes negotiations with major political parties beside the dialogues, by which, political observers believe, the administration wants to impose certain agenda. The analysts cast doubt on the prospects of the ongoing dialogue and implementation of the recommendations derived from the talks because of the government’s tendency to impose its agenda under cover of political reforms and attempts to eject some leaders from the political scenes. They believe that the government and the parties were still sticking to their guns over a slew of issues despite efforts, overt and covert, for compromise. ‘Imposing anything from outside will hardly do any good to politics, especially if it is related to reforms. It must come from within the political process’, Talukdar Muniruzzaman, a noted political scientist, told New Age on Saturday. He accused the government of being biased in favour of a certain political party. Public perception is that the government has bias for the Awami League…, he said. Muniruzzaman, who taught political science at Dhaka University for long, feared that many things on the reform agenda were aimed at paving the way for strangers to intrude into the political scene. ‘That is why they are pleading for a balance of power between top constitutional positions’, he added. The government started the process for dialogues through chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed’s address to the nation in January, a year after more than 100 top politicians were detained after its takeover. But it failed to bring all the parties to the talks despite its repeated claims that efforts were on to ensure participation of all in the dialogues and parliamentary polls, promised to be held in December this year. It took the government six months to prepare the ground for the dialogues, and nearly a month in April for parleys before the formal phase of the talks started in late May after the chief adviser again addressed the nation suggesting a ‘national charter’ on the basis of consensus on relevant matters prior to the elections to bring about qualitative changes in governance and the political system after the polls. The head of the government had also floated the idea of ‘balance of power’ between the top constitutional positions – president and prime minister. His proposals are also being pursued at the bilateral meetings between the government and the parties at the Chief Adviser’s Office. It so far held talks with 17 political parties, including the Awami League and the Jatiya Party, representatives of business community and a group of union parishad chairmen in Dhaka and with two civic groups outside the capital. But it failed to bring the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its allies, which announced a five-point demand, to the dialogue. The conditions put forward by the BNP-led four-party alliance for joining the dialogue include unconditional release of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and Jamaat-e-Islami chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, and other political detainees, withdrawal of all cases against them, lifting of the state of emergency and national elections before all other polls. An adviser to the interim administration said that the process of negotiations with the parties continued. ‘We hope we will be able to bring all the parties to the dialogue, and the election as well’, commerce and education adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said. The Awami League, the other major political party, meanwhile, had an inconclusive meeting with the government. At the talks the AL leaders placed a set of demands including permanent bail for the party chief Sheikh Hasina, who is visiting North America for treatment after being released from jail by an administrative order, lifting of the emergency and national elections before other polls. The parties at the meetings generally asked the government to lift the state of emergency, hold parliamentary elections first, create an atmosphere conducive to elections and take steps to ease the sufferings of the people caused by rocketing prices. They also asked the government to concentrate on holding the elections and stop pursuing the idea of constitution amendments. They said the matter should be left for the next elected parliament to decide. A few parties, born after the military-backed government assumed office in January, 2007, and some civic groups were in tune with the government’s proposals at the dialogues. They advocated elections under the state of emergency, local polls preceding the national election, balance of power between the president and the prime minister, formation of a constitution commission, a national consensus government for a few years, a ban on political party-linked student and workers politics and enactment of laws banning hartals and strikes. The government lauded the recommendations saying that it must initiate the process before the polls. ‘We cannot sit idle. We should initiate the matters with courage although these issues would be dealt with by an elected parliament’, commerce and education adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman had told reporters after a meeting recently. After the meeting with the Awami League on Thursday that remained inconclusive, the adviser said that the matters would be taken up without undermining the authority of the parliament. Asked whether the on-going dialogue could result in qualitative changes in politics and governance, Ataur Rahman, professor of political science at Dhaka University, told New Age that it was still unclear to him. The parties and the government still stick to their respective positions. The government wants a guarantee that its activities would get legitimacy after the elections while the parties do not seem so serious about it. According to the government plan, a document will be prepared after the end of the series of dialogues based on the issues agreed upon. The document might be sent to the parties for signing to forge a consensus on national issues.