WE regret that four of the council of advisers to the caretaker government thought it fit to resign their post. The entire council of advisers had come to gain public trust and confidence by their actions, particularly the four had come to be acknowledged as straight talking and forthright persons.

We are certain that it was their conscience that they were beholden to and it is the reason for their departure. What other options were they left with, given that their efforts to resolve the political issues met with an unsupportive boss and his go-it-alone policy.And it is perhaps the unilateral decision of the president to deploy the army, while they felt that there was absolutely no reason to do so, that precipitated their action.

They have acted on the conviction that much as they would have liked to assist in the conduct of a free and fair election, their efforts to do so had been made unsuccessful by the way the president and the caretaker chief handled the issues. They have acted with dignity and honour, men and women with such qualities one seldom comes by these days. But notwithstanding the indignity that they might have had to put up with, they would have served the cause of the people better being inside the cabinet than outside it. Therefore, while we empathize with their reason for resignation we cannot support their decision. The resignation has further complicated an already turbulent situation.

From the very outset we had noticed the marginalisation of the advisers by the president. His mindset regarding the character of his government, which he did not hesitate to make public as a presidential form of government, that was later retracted though, has been reflected in the mannerin which he has conducted the business of the caretaker government so far. The important decisions were taken unilaterally sidelining the advisers and making them feel ignored and irrelevant.

It is public pressure that underscored the relevance of his advisers, more than his desire to do so, that compelled the reluctant president to involve them more intensely, which was reflected in the negotiations undertaken by them with the two alliances to overcome the political bottleneck. The negotiations were conducted extremely well and we were really making headway when inexplicably it floundered on the issue of one individual, Mr. Zakaria. For one person the entire deal was cast off.

The resignation exposes the limit to which the advisers had been pushed to by the president. We urge upon him to convince the four to reconsider their decision with a firm commitment by him that in the remaining period the caretaker government would run on the collective decision of the council of advisers.