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Khaleda's unity bid falls flat

Invitee parties show little interest in joining anti-terrorism dialogue

Rashidul Hasan and Prabir Barua Chowdhury
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's initiative to forge a national unity against militancy is apparently going to fall flat, as the BNP received a lukewarm response from most other political parties.
Khaleda's stance against severing ties with the Jamaat-e-Islami and the BNP's negative image due to its violent antigovernment agitation early last year are the main reasons behind the poor response, say BNP insiders.
Top BNP leaders, who have been working hard for nearly a month to get other political parties on board, managed to convince only Krishak Sramik Janata League to hold talks with the BNP chief on the initiative, they added.
A KSJL delegation led by its President Kader Siddique had a two-hour meeting with the BNP chief at her Gulshan residence on Thursday to discuss how militancy can be resisted through concerted efforts. Briefing reporters yesterday about the meeting's outcome, Kader Siddique said his party advised Khaleda to drop Jamaat-e-Islami from the BNP-led 20-party alliance.
"I told her [Khaleda| that I will not be involved in any initiative that includes Jamaat," he said at a press conference at the KSJL central office in the capital's Motijheel.
Asked what was Khaleda's response to his proposal, Kader said there is no need to hurry to reach a decision, and that his party would wait for her response.
In late 2005 when Khaleda was prime minister, she held a national dialogue to find ways to stop bomb attacks after militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh carried out synchronised bomb attacks across the country.
But she failed to get any positive response from most political parties, including the Awami League and its allies, because of BNP's close ties with the Jamaat.
Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, “We have invited all political parties to sit with the party chief.”
He, however, didn't say how many political parties responded to the BNP's
invitation.
"Discussions are going on with various political parties in this regard, and the dates of meetings with them would be fixed at a convenient time,” he added.
According to BNP insiders, the party didn't get positive response from ASM Abdur Rob-led Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal and major left-leaning parties, including the Communist Party of Bangladesh and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, as the BNP is yet to make clear its position regarding its ties with the Jamaat.
Talking to this newspaper, JSD Chief Abdur Rob welcomed Khaleda's initiative, but said his party had also made a move to forge a national unity against militancy and would hold a meeting today with different political parties.
Gonoforum Executive President Subrata Chowdhury last night said the party wouldn't sit with Khaleda if the BNP doesn't expel anti-Liberation War element Jamaat from the alliance.
Bikolpodhara Bangladesh, led by AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, was yet to decide whether it would hold a meeting with the BNP chief, said BDB leaders.
The BDB chief and his son and party's Joint Secretary General Mahi B Chowdhury are now abroad.
A day after the deadly terror attack on a Gulshan cafe on July 1, Khaleda at a press conference called for forging a national unity, irrespective of party and opinion, to put up a strong resistance against militancy.
But AL leaders turned down the call, saying unity with the BNP is not possible unless it abandons the Jamaat
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina later said a national unity against militancy already exists in the country.
BNP insiders said the party high-ups are still working hard to convince Gonoforum, the BDB, the JSD (Rob) and some other pro-Liberation War parties to hold talks with Khaleda over the national unity initiative.
They said the party would keep Jamaat away from the initiative but wouldn't drop itfrom the 20-party alliance.
The debate on severing ties with the Jamaat recently created rifts between several pro-BNP intellectuals, including Prof Emajuddin Ahmed, and some BNP high-ups, according to them.
On August 2, Emajuddin said Khaleda had decided not to keep the Jamaat in the 20-party combine as the Islamist party had become a burden for the BNP.
But the following day, Fakhrul said Emajuddin's statement on Jamaat was his personal opinion, not of the party.