Civil society leaders renew call for national dialogue

Civil society leaders Saturday stressed the need for holding national dialogue to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the country, saying that otherwise it will be horrible to the whole nation.
They also called upon both the Awami League-led 14-party and BNP-led 20-party alliances to sit in dialogue immediately to end the current political deadlock.
They made the call while speaking at a sit-in programme organised by Nagorik Oikya in front of Shikha Chirantan at Suhrawardy Udyan in the city.
While speaking as the chief guest, Gono Forum President Dr Kamal Hossain said: "Bangladesh is not the property of any person, family or party. This is a country of 160 million people."
"Common people are suffering a lot due to continuous political unrest. Each and every man wants peace and security as well as respite from violent activities. No one can escape after carrying out violent activities," he said.
Nagorik Oikya Convener Mahmudur Rahman Manna said the country has already suffered a loss of Tk 90,000 crore (Tk 900 billion) due to political turmoil. "And if it continues for another month, the loss will be equal to the amount of total budget."
To get rid of this volatile political situation, he said, there is no alternative to national dialogue. The government should initiate a move for dialogue, he added.
"Don't play any blame game over petrol bomb attacks. We are against all sorts of violence and condemn this type of attack. The government should bring the petrol bomb attackers to book," he said.
Terming the January 5 parliamentary polls baseless, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) president ASM Abdur Rob demanded holding a free, fair and credible parliamentary election with the participation of all parties.
"We have to resolve the political crisis politically. There is no alternative to dialogue," he said.  
Dhaka University Law Department Prof Asif Nazrul, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) General Secretary Syed Abu Zafar Ahmed, former DUCSU Vice-President Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) General Secretary Comrade Khalequzzaman also spoke on the occasion.
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