Hartal alternative: Quader formula

Dhaka, June 17 (bdnews24.com)?Awami League presidium member Obaidul Quader says staging peaceful rallies could be an alternative to general strike.

"Please, don't harm people trying to hit Awami League. Hartal is a tool that only inflicts sufferings on the poor," Quader said on Friday, referring to the opposition's shutdowns.

He made the suggestion at a discussion on budget and opposition politics, organised by Bangabandhu Academy at the Dhaka Reporters' Unity.

Quader, a former Awami League junior minister for sports, invited BNP to parliament to join discussions on the much-talked-about caretaker government issue.

"The government won't bow under the pressure of movement, but logical arguments in dialogue can work," he told the discussion.

BNP and the government have been at loggerheads over the caretaker issue since May 31, when prime minister Sheikh Hasina said there was no scope to retain the system as the court abolished it. She rather preferred polls under a fortified Election Commission.

Hasina recently asked the BNP to join parliament and place an 'alternative formula' on the issue.

The opposition maintains that they would not join the next general elections without a caretaker government in place.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia on Thursday rejected the proposal for discussion.

She said: "She [Hasina] keeps saying over and over something that is not there in the verdict. The verdict says 'the Constitution (13th Amendment) Act. 1996 (Act 1 of 1996) is prospectively declared void and ultra vires the constitution'. Which means the system is not void yet.

"The verdict will be effective only after holding of the next two elections under the caretaker system. This is, in fact, mentioned in the latter part of the verdict," she added.

If the caretaker provision is retained, the former prime minister said, she was willing to join such discussions either 'inside or outside parliament'.

The Supreme Court on May 10 repealed the 13th Amendment to the constitution that introduced the caretaker government. But the court said the next two general elections could be held under unelected governments and gave parliament the liberty to decide on the issue.

Quader said the apex court had repealed the system in the first part of the verdict--the legal part--and in the latter part--political--it asked to consider peace, discipline and security.

To resolve the issue, he said, "The ice of crisis has to be melted first."

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