THIS is a moment to wish a very happy New Year to each other but we are having to do so in a backdrop that makes it sound like a mockery of the greeting.

Because here we are in a state of trepidation wondering what to make of a new year with political conflict about polls breaking out into a crescendo. The ruling party is going ahead with an unacceptable election as the opposition pushes the nation deeper into the tunnel of indefinite blockades.

Yet the sun of the turbulent, often bloody, year of 2013 having set, we want to embrace the new dawn of 2014 with hope that peace will return, politicians will be able to put their house in order and the nation and its economy will again be back on track. The land of possibilities will come alive.

While the year that was has passed into the mist of eternity, its memory has not. The first attempt at healing the gashing wounds of the nation's bloody birth was made through starting the trials of those who committed crimes against humanity during the War of Liberation in 1971. But the abettors of the Pakistani occupation forces, the Jamaat-e-Islami, were still out there and active not only to thwart the process of justice, but also push the nation into the throes of a vortex.

In the fresh sun of New Year, we wish to give a decent burial to those nightmares. Coming out of the woods however entails sagacity of political leadership that has been sadly missing in the preceding year.

Happy New Year to our readers, patrons and well-wishers.