THE present constitutional crisis is a creation of the political leaders whom we had voted to I he parliament in 1991 to lead us and give us direction in mat lets - political, social and economic. Whether they ijave been able to give us that leadership is now a big question.

The current political deadlock does not appear to be insurmountable: yet. it remains .unsolved, much to our disgrace We the voters, did not expect that those whom we voted to the parliament and made leaders should disappoint us so terribly. The inability of our leaders to rise to the occasion will certainly not give a good impression of them to the world outside.

The apposition MPs boycotted .the parliament for more than a year, and after giving due warning they resigned enmasse on December 28. 1994 As reported in the press', just on the eve of submitting resignation by the 147 MPs an acceptable solution was at hand but liecause of the imposition of a precondition requiring the opposition political parties pot to resort to strikes and sieges UH the expiry Of the tenure of the present government. the solution slipped out of the net.

This- condition was really unacceptable to anybody — not to speak of the leaders of political parties - having a bit of self-respect. Therefore, can one be blamed if one surmises that the pre-condition was imposed knowingly that it won't be acceptable and as a result

the crisis would continue. The opposition MPs having no alternative submitted their resignation and with their resignation the total strength of the parliament has been cut down to almost a half. Such a truncated parliament, though not illegal, is incompatible with the concept of parliamentary democracy.

After much dilly-dallying the ruling of the speaker on the acceptability or otherwise of the enblock resignation of. the 147 MPs has been made public. The opposiUon camp, however, does not seen to see eye to eye with the ruling. But Sinn- the ruling has not been challenged u> the court of law. it may lie contended that these 147 MPs are still holding their' seals in the parliament. Whether they will join the next sessions of the parliament or not is a matter to be seen. But as things are moving, such a possibility appears to be slim. The opposition is, instead, bent upon agitating against the government with a view to toppling it down. But the government does not seem to be purturbed. Whether the strikes and sieges, which the opposition has again resorted to after the holy Ramadan will be able to cause .the government to fall, is yet a far cry. But what is certain Is that the inconve-

niences and. sufferings of the people are on the increase, not to speak of damage to the economic growth. All these are Jarring on the people who may turn away from the politicians in disgust. The sooner the politicians realizes this, the better for them and for us as well.

The nation sincerely wants that our political leaders-spe-cially the Prime Minister and the (former) leader of the opposition should not behave merely as political leaders but also as statesmen or should 1 say states-women. To a political leader the interest of his or her party may have the up-l>ermost consideration but to a statesman it is the nation whose interest and well-being come first and foremost.

In the past few months many a plan was formulated and proposed including those of Sir Ninian but none came to fruition. The labour of those who worked behind formulation of the plans went in vain. The reason for these failures is not far to seek. It is absence of pragmatism and statesmanlike sagacity and vision.

Now that the ruling of the speaker has rendered the enmasse resignation of the 147 MPs invalid, the opportunity to get over the crisis is there. The broken dialogue should

agafn be started as early as convenient but certainly before the situation gets worse. The rice and fertilizer scarcity has added momentum to the agitation of the opposition.

The Prime Minister has once said that. If necessary, she would talk with Sheikh Hasina. We feel, the necessity for talk is there. It will be a show of magnanimity if tjie Prime Minister takes the initiative and Invites Sheikh Hasina to the talk she has in mind. The talk should be meaningful and not for biding time and to be meaningful the talk should centre round fhe latest proposal of the ruling party without the precondition that nao aeetrnipattierl rt. There was an indication' that the opposition would have accepted the plan last time had there been no precondition of the kind mentioned above. Therefore, it may reasonably be expected that the opposition may be inclined to accept it this tfme too. If the plan calls for an amendment, it would be wise on the part of the opposition to Join the parliament session and get it through. Thanks to the ruling of the speaker that has kept alive this opportunity.

There is no reason why one should be averse to any amendment to the. constitu-

tion The constitution is not a holy scripture. It Is a. manmade document and it exists for the guidance of the nation. Therefore, any amendment to it. If necessitated by the need of the hour, should be done and for that no crime will be

committed.

Let good sense prevail on our readers. The people are no longer in a mood to live in a state of chaos and confusion and to see that whatever prospect of economic growth is there should be lost in the process. When the next election is held, the politicians will have to go to the people to solicit votes. Let It be remembered that the people will not then be oblivious of the sufferings they are now experiencing for no fault Of their own.