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election-time government.

Dhaka University Prof Robaet Ferdous said people fear that violence and bloodshed await.

Shujon Secretary Badiul Alam Majumdar said Bangladesh is going through a transition period and a dangerous time and that it was high time the parties sat for talks.

Former cabinet secretary Ali Imam Majumdar said dialogues for peace are held even during wars. “No dialogue is effective if the parties are uncompromising.”

“The changeover after 1/11 [January 11, 2007] came following the lack of consensus among political parties,” he added.

Justice MA Matin, a former judge of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, said people panic every five years when the election nears. There should be a law on the transfer of power with provisions that the new government cannot arrest and sue opposition leaders in the first year of the government’s tenure, he said.

He said the joint declaration of three alliances that were then waging a movement against HM Ershad said all problems would be solved only through dialogue. “But politicians seem to have forgotten that.”

Former BNP MP Harunur Rashid said every problem can be solved through dialogue. “If anyone says ‘With whom we will sit for talks?’ it means he or she is dodging the responsibility.”

He said if the ruling party tried to hold a one-sided election, the crisis would deepen.

Nagarik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said the atmosphere for dialogue does not exist and that the prime minister should quit.

AL MP Nahim Razzaq said, “We can’t deny that it’s a tough situation. We need a solution. For that, we have to sacrifice something ….”

He said that since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is leading the government, he is hopeful of a dialogue. Discussions are needed for a permanent solution, and if that happens, it would be a milestone.

Communist Party of Bangladesh General Secretary Ruhin Hossain Prince said the election system is broken and it has virtually turned into a selection system. Nepotism is widespread. “We need a complete overhaul of the system.”

Among others, Chief Coordinator of Gono Sanghati Andolon Zonayed Saki, local governance expert Prof Tofail Ahmed, Socialist Party of Bangladesh Assistant General Secretary Razequzzaman Ratan, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh leader Akbar Khan, eight representatives of Shujan from eight divisions also spoke at the programme.