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Govt plans to talk AL into joining JS

Dy leader of opposition terms the move meaningless

NAZRUL ISLAM
The government plans to make a formal offer for talks with the Awami League (AL) towards bringing the main opposition to the parliament. However, the AL regards the move as meaningless and devoid of sincerity.
Immediately after President Badruddoza Chowdhury summoned the budget session of the Jatiya Sangsad on June 4, Prime Minister's Parliamentary Advisor
Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury informed newsmen of the government plan at his parliament office yesterday.
"The government is willing to have a meaningful and substantial dialogue with the opposition, preferably through a formal negotiation," he said.
However, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Abdul Hamid expressed doubt about the move.
"I doubt whether the government
is sincere about a dialogue with the opposition," the former speaker told The Daily Star last night.
Hamid was particularly doubtful about SQ Chowdhury's proposal.
"It is difficult to read his stance as he constantly changes his positions. So, let us wait and see.
"From the very beginning, we are in favour of joining the parliament, but practically the government feels comfortable without the opposition in parliament."
The AL Parliamentary Party will nevertheless meet before the session begins to decide what to do, he said.
The main opposition, which has won only 58 seats in the October 1 general elections, has been boycotting the Sangsad since its maiden session.
It claims that the atmosphere is not conducive to join the parliament because of continued government repression on opposition activists, torture on religious and ethnic minorities, harassment of senior AL leaders in the form of sedition charges.
The government has so far not taken any effective step to break the deadlock. Instead members of the treasury bench have hurled blistering remarks at top AL leaders in the last two session of the parliament. In doing so, the ruling party lawmakers, including some ministers, have often violated parliament rules and conventions.
Publication of white papers on alleged grafts and irregularities by ministers and AL leaders during the tenure of the previous government has only toughened the main opposition's stand on parliament boycott, said an influential AL leader.
He claimed that the ruling BNP was branding the AL's development activities as corruption only to discredit the opposition and divert public attention from its own misdeeds.
Political analysts believe that the
AL lawmakers will make a token participation in parliament at least for a day to protect their membership as, according to constitutional provisions, abstention from parliament for 90 sitting days straight renders a seat vacant.
The 90-day timeframe would expire during the budget session for the AL lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the main opposition has decided to resign en masse from the parliament in protest at, what they term, the government-sponsored repression.
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Sheikh Hasina, now on a private visit to the United States of America, has raised a series of issues for the government to solve before her party goes back to the parliament.
SQ Chowdhury, meanwhile, did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, scheduled to leave for the US last night, and the opposition leader in New York.
Chowdhury said the government would actively consider the opposition proposal for proportionate representation in parliamentary standing committees on ministries and chairmanship of some vital committees.
"If necessary, the government will have to go some extra miles" in sustaining parliamentary democracy for which both the leading parties struggled a lot, he said.