Never before had the inter-party rivalry been so bitter as of now. The two top political leaders with frosty relations between them spits fire and brimstone for each other in their political exchanges. The AL and BNP supremos have since stopped ever their nods and gestures they occasionally exchanged earlier. Now they exchange innuendoes and sharp shrill accusation for amorphous conspiracies. They entertain no political understanding and consensus on vital national issues, although an understanding among the national leadership is of overwhelming imperatives in the backdrop of thickening crises facing the country.

If the two major political parties fail to come to grips with each other and no credible election acceptable not only to stakeholders but also to international community can be held all hell will be let loose to disrupt whatever little semblance of internal order we are still left with. The whole country except the AL and BNP can see that doomesday situation.

This being the inter-party relations and the chemistry between the two top leaders, the forces like carpetbaggers and political charlatans have their field day and they come in droves to advise all who matter in our country’s politics. In the meantime, a paranoid anxiety haunts the country in the backdrop of recent vandalism perpetrated by Jaamat-Shibir activists. The entire nation is held hostage to these desperadoes who even attacked the members of the law enforcing agencies and snatched their weapons — something that never happened in the past.

While a measure of mystery surrounds this sudden development, the incumbent government exasperated with equally horrendous law and order front takes it to be the last ditch attempt of the Jaamat-Shibir whose top leaders are incarcerated for war crime trials to scuttle the process. It also demonstrated their remaining strength which many thought had petered out.

The government on its part reaffirms its resolve to hasten the trial without compromising with and surrendering to any pressure tactics from any quarter either at home or abroad. But unfortunately after governing the country for last four years the AL has since been dislodged from its moral high ground. For the government the problem could not have erupted at a more difficult time when the country has been going through multiple shocks — the shock of the alleged scandal of Padma Bridge corruption making the fate of the milestone project uncertain. The black cat of Railway’s employment scam, the Ramu-Ukhia episode, the loot in the banking sector in connivance allegedly with party heavyweights, the Destiny Group’s ‘getting rich quick scheme’ and the government’s inability to forestall it and so on.

However, all these do not constitute the complete picture of the failures of the government. Deepening the public agony the two top political leaders of the country look towards different direction breeding perpetual state of socio-political instability which in turn adversely affects everything else. But the way the things are developing now puts the country in a cul-de-sac, the extrication from which will be all the more difficult.

The public is aghast at the quarrel of the two leaders, but fails to make them compromise through a mutually acceptable formula as to who would conduct the election for the tenth parliament. Both the supremos are however hell bent on getting it in their own way. As a result, the public genuinely doubts if there will at all be an election. If so, what awaits the nation? The already troubled country cannot afford any more turmoil.

So, let it be the turn of the people to impose a decision on our leadership for a change. If required, let people give their verdict in favour of a snap referendum, to decide whether there will be a caretaker government or not for conducting the next election. The people are not just a bunch of cretins. Given an opportunity, they have enough gumption to hit the bull’s eye. However, the most important factor is time which is running out and the things have already started unraveling.

Brig (retd) M Abdul Hafiz is a former DG of BIISS.