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The chronicle of failed dialogues

Differences between political parties over polls persist for more than two decades

Shakhawat Liton, Rashidul Hasan and Wasim Bin Habib
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who wrapped up weeklong dialogues with political parties on the next parliamentary polls yesterday, had been part of the eventful history of both successful and failed talks.
Records of talks held in around last three decades since the restoration of democracy in the country show that crisis was resolved and political situation improved whenever dialogues between political parties became successful.
However, whenever talks collapsed, it had disastrous consequences. On every
occasion, the dialogue results cost the country's people, economy and democracy dearly. It happened between 1994-96, in 2006and2013.
Opposition parties led by Hasina had launched vigorous street agitations twice while those led by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia took to the streets in 2013.
As the top leaders of the Jatiya Oikyafront, an alliance of BNP and several other political parties, were not happy with the outcome of their second round of dialogue with the PM yesterday, it will hold a rally in Rajshahi tomorrow.
After the fall of autocratic ruler Gen HM Ershad in 1990, the first successful talks
among the political parties paved the way for a smooth transition to democracy. They reached an agreement and requested then chief justice Shahabuddin Ahmed to lead the interim government after Ershad's resignation as president.
The Shahabuddin government was successful in leading a peaceful transition to democracy through holding a free and fair national election in February 1991. Parliamentary democracy was restored in thecountry.
There are other instances of holding successful talks back then.
But only four years after the restoration of democracy, the political parties failed to resolve a deadlock through talks.
From September 1994 to January 1996, the country's eminent citizens, foreign dignitaries, including a special envoy of the then Commonwealth secretary general and diplomats in Dhaka, mediated a series of negotiations between the then ruling BNP and the opposition AL to resolve the politi-
cal crisis over the introduction of an election-time government.
As the negotiations failed, the country witnessed a massive street violence and eventually a one-sided parliamentary election in February 1996. The polls were boycotted by the AL and its allies who had been agitating for the introduction of a nonpartisan caretaker government system.
In 2004, a political crisis developed over increasing the retirement age of Supreme Court judges through a constitutional amendment. The amendment paved the way for then chief justice KM Hasan to become the chief adviser of the election-time caretaker government.
Under the leadership of Hasina, the then AL-led opposition alliance strongly rejected the amendment saying they would not accept Justice Hasan as the chief adviser.
Towards the fag end of its five-year tenure, the BNP-led government agreed to sit for talks with the AL to break the political deadlock. Then BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan
Bhuiyan and AL general secretary Abdul Jalil held several rounds of talks at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. But the talks failed to resolve the crisis.
The tenure of the BNP government came to an end with the crisis remaining unresolved. There was violence in the street.
Then president lajuddin Ahmed opened talks with political parties to end the impasse.
The BNP rejected the AL's proposal for finding an alternative to Justice Hasan. All of a sudden, lajuddin, on the BNP's advice, assumed the office of the chief adviser, ignoring the constitutional provision. The crisis worsened further.
At one stage, the AL-led alliance pulled out of the national election scheduled for January 22, 2007, and intensified street agitation. The party announced that it would resist the election. The country plunged into political chaos resulting in the declaration of the state of emergency on January 11.
The crisis over the election-time
government prevailed in 2011 when the AL government, led by Hasina, abolished the caretaker government system by amending the constitution.
The constitutional amendment not only allowed the AL to stay in power during the national election, but also allowed all lawmakers to seek reelection staying in office.
This time, the BNP-led alliance, under the leadership of Khaleda, took to the streets demanding restoration of the caretaker government system. The AL rejected the demand. A political deadlock continued in the country with an escalation in violence.
Early in December 2013, the United Nations sent its key official Oscar Fernandez-Taranco to Dhaka for a four-day visit to discuss with political leaders a mutually acceptable formula to hold an "inclusive, non-violent and credible" election.
He held several rounds of talks with AL and BNP leaders. But the dialogues failed to break the deadlock, resulting in a one-sided parliamentary election in January 2014.