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ANTI-TERRORISM TALKS

Chance of national consensus slim

Invited 30 parties, 15 trade bodies divided over joining the dialogue

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
The prime minister until yesterday invited 30 political parties and 15 professional bodies to a national dialogue on combating terrorism, but with the invitees clearly divided over the issue little possibility is there of striking a national consen-
sus.
Except Jatiya Party (JP-Ershad), the mainstream opposition parties and opposition-backed professional associations refused outright to join the dialogue, while the ruling alliance partners, some minor political parties and pro-government professional bodies accepted the invita-
tion.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) yesterday and the day before delivered the invitation letters to the offices of the political parties and professional bodies of teachers, lawyers, journalists, physicians and engineers, saying
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the date and time of the dialogue would be fixed in consultation with them.
"We have sent the prime minister's letters to about 30 political parties and 15 professional bodies," Prime Minister's Assistant Private Secretary (APS) Shamsul Alam told The Daily Star.
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, who returns from Makkah tomorrow, will finalise the schedule of the dialogue based on the responses of the invitees, PMO sources said.
Watching the reactions to the PM's letter many political observers believe setting the dialogue schedule may take quite some time, as some parties and professional bodies are yet to decide whether to join it or not.
"We have received the letter and our executive committee will sit in a couple of days to take a decision," Islami Shasantantra Andolon Assistant Publicity Secretary Shahidul Islam Kabir told The Daily Star yesterday.
Sources said Ershad, chairman of the second largest opposition party in parliament, has decided under 'government pressure' to sit in the dialogue, though a section of his party leaders are against the decision.
Anwar Hossain Manju, the lone lawmaker of the JP faction led by him, said his party does not believe in negative politics. "We want to share our concerns on what is happening in the country," he told The Daily Star, avoiding a direct answer to the ques-tion--whether his party would join the dialogue or not.
Another lone lawmaker, Abdul Kader Siddiqui of Krishak Sramik Janata League, said, "We have no objection to sit in a dialogue with the government on a national issue. But, we will not attend any dialogue if Jamaat-e-Islami is there."
Kader Siddiqui also criticised the way the letter had been addressed. "My name was only on the envelope. But the letter inside did not address my party or me. It just said 'dear colleague'... the letter could have been meant for anyone," he noted.
Another opposition political party represented by a lone lawmaker in parliament, Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, is yet to get the invitation. However, the party leaders said, even if they are invited, they will not join the dialogue.
The other political parties having representation in parliament invited to the talks are partners of the ruling alliance -- Jamaat-e-Islami, two factions of Bangladesher Jatiya Party and four factions of Islami Oikya Jote.
Khaleda from a November 30 public meeting urged all political parties and the civil society members to sit across the table to find ways and means to put an end to terrorism,
militancy and extremism in the name of religion. But the Awami League-led 14-party opposition combine rejected the dialogue proposal outright.
The premier then launched the formal invitation process on Tuesday by sending a letter to Opposition Leader and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina, who however refused to receive it and rejected to participate in the dialogue.
Of the professional bodies, Dhaka University Teachers Association (Duta) President Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique received the invitation letter on Tuesday night. "We have to decide the matter at a meeting of our association," he told The Daily Star.
Bangladesh Bar Council Vice President Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, who also received the invitation, turned it down. "There will be no dialogue with bombers and those who have been patronising militancy in the country," he told a discussion yesterday afternoon.
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Advocate Mahbubey Alam also received the letter but dismissed the invitation, terming it a farce. However, the SCBA will take a decision in this regard at a meeting soon, he told reporters at his office yesterday.
Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA) Secretary General AZM Zahid Hossain said the apex body of doctors will join the dialogue. "We are yet to get the letter, but the prime minister's APS has informed me about the invitation," said Zahid Hossain, also the president of pro-BNP Doctors' Association of Bangladesh.
Sources said pro-opposition factions of the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists and Dhaka Union of Journalists will not attend the dialogue while their rival factions will.
The possibility of Bangladesh Bar Council and the Duta participating in the dialogue is also slim, sources said.