Editorial
To dialogue or not to dialogue
We urge the political parties to come to the table in the nation's interest
WE can understand the hesitance on the part of the AL and BNP to enter into a dialogue with the current government, given that the leaders of these two parties remain behind bars and that other demands of the parties have not been met.
It is only natural that the parties feel that they should have some degree of loyalty to their leaders and that they should consider their release a priority matter. It is only expected the they would wish for the emergency to be lifted forthwith.
However, we humbly submit that if the real goal of the political parties is the restoration of democracy, and if the best interest of the country is to remain paramount in their thinking, then there can be no alternative to the parties coming to the table for the upcoming dialogue.
The entire nation is looking forward to the elections. This is the united demand of the people, the civil society, the media, and the political parties, and it is only in anticipation of the upcoming elections that we have remained so patient for the past year and a half without an elected government. Now the elections we have waited for are just around the corner.
There can be no doubt that the AL and the BNP are key elements of the upcoming elections, and they must therefore be major stake-holders of the pre-election dialogue process. Indeed it was not too long ago that the claim against the current government was that it was not holding a pre-election dialogue.
Therefore, to now jeopardise the dialogue, seems to us to be a move that is not likely to be helpful in bringing about the election that we all want so much.
It is in this spirit that we urge the political parties to join the dialogue with a clear vision. It now seems as though both factions of the BNP have agreed to attend, so the ball is now firmly in the AL court. We understand the questions that remain among the political parties. We understand that there is much that they are unhappy with. But this, more than any other reason is to go to dialogue. That is where these differences can be resolved.
Notwithstanding their grievances, there is nothing to be gained by boycotting the talks and thus putting the elections at risk. This is the key. The elections should not be jeopardised.
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