Airing its doubt about the jurisdiction of the High Court to issue rule over holding a dialogue between the chiefs of two major political parties, the main opposition BNP on Wednesday said it is the duty of the government to take initiatives for talks to break the ongoing political deadlock.
“We don’t know whether the High Court rule over the dialogue is applicable for us,” BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir told a press conference.
“We need to know how far the High Court can go in engaging political parties in dialogue. We need to understand weather these issues fall within the High Court’s jurisdiction,” he added.
Fakhrul came up with his party’s stance while reacting to Wednesday’s HC rule upon a public interest litigation (PIL) writ petition that asked Awami League President Sheikh Hasina and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia to explain why they should not be asked to sit for a dialogue to break the prevailing political stalemate over the upcoming general election.
The BNP spokesperson said his party has long been pressing for a dialogue to resolve the current political standoff following the annulment of the constitutional provision for holding the general election under a non-party caretaker government.
“After the annulment of the caretaker government system through the 15th amendment, our leader Khaleda Zia asked the government to shun this destructive move and iron out the political problems through talks. But the government didn’t pay heed to it,” he recalled.
Fakhrul said the onus now lies with the government to take initiatives for a dialogue with the political parties to solve the crisis. “And they (govt) will have to do it.”
Source: UNB Connect
