M M Jasim :A new hope of dialogue between the Awami League-led government and the BNP has been arisen, as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has responded to the dialogue call of BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia in condition. The Prime Minister said that she would consider the dialogue offer only when Khaleda would give up the company of war criminals.”Khaleda has no quality to sit for dialogue with her. She will gain the eligibility only when she will say the trial of war criminals should be held in Bangladesh, they are the enemies of the country’s independence. If she wants the trial of the killers we will consider it for the sake of the country,” she said while addressing a press conference at her official residence Ganabhaban on Sunday.The press conference held to inform the media about the outcome of her just concluded three-day visit to the Netherlands.Replying the PM’s statement, the BNP spokesman Dr Asaduzzaman Ripon said his party is not against the trial of the war criminals. But it has to be transparent and international standard, he said. “BNP always wants the trial of actual war criminals. But BNP is against the trial if it runs politically and do not follow the international criteria,” Ripon said. Although the PM has rejected that there is no crisis in Bangladesh, the BNP spokesman said the country is in severe political crisis. There is no way to come back from such situation without dialogue, he said. “The BNP wants to protect the country and its people. We have no intention to come to power. But we have to stand under an umbrella for the sake of the country. All-party meeting, national unity and dialogue are a must to save the country now,” Ripon said. He called upon the government to refrain from irrelevant speech and concentrate to reshuffle the democratic organizations and to build the future Bangladesh where every party will work. Earlier on November 5, the BNP chairperson urged the government to initiate a national dialogue to bring an end to the crisis facing Bangladesh. “We hope that good sense will prevail upon the government and it will shun its authoritarian attitude in order to create an atmosphere for initiating a national dialogue in the greater interests of the country and its people,” Khaleda, who is now staying in London, said in a statement signed by party’s spokesman Asaduzzaman Ripon.Khaleda said the government must realise the reasons behind the present crisis. “The government, itself, created the crisis. The political crisis has begun whenever the government scrapped the non-party caretaker government system.” Calling for a national consensus on some fundamental issues, the BNP chairperson said, “Our party thinks that organising a national election under a neutral government without any further delay has been an imperative to come out of the crisis.”She said the country is in a deep crisis at the moment. “No one is feeling safe in or outside their home.
