The New Nation - Internet Edition

The decision of the Army not to take part in the political dialogue initiated by the Caretaker government is laudable, because it would not be proper to drag the armed forces into any political controversy. The decision came in the wake of demands made by leaders of the two major political parties for inclusion of representatives of the armed forces in the government side during talks. It's a common knowledge that the dialogue would be full of political debates. But political reform is not a debatable issue. Because there is a national consensus on this. And this consensus is against allowing return to the politics of intolerance and internecine battles between parties and killings that characterised the political arena before November 1, 2006.

The reality is that the present Caretaker government has received all-out support of the armed forces from the very beginning. The political leadership had not succeeded either to work through the immediate past Caretaker government or to make the Election Commission acceptable to all. Against this backdrop, when the constitutional process was about to collapse the present Caretaker government was constituted with the active backing of the armed forces. Law and order was restored and with it security, peace and discipline in public life. The government and the administration also became effective.

Meanwhile, strong measures were taken against corruption.

And everybody has come to start thinking that ascendancy to state power does not take people above the law. All this was possible because of active cooperation of the armed forces, even though they did not directly take charge. This has turned out to be a commendable example of success in overcoming national crises.

The active cooperation of the armed forces, however, would be meaningful when the main objective of tiding over the crises would be achieved. No noteworthy achievements would be of any use to the nation if political reform is not achieved.

It should be realised that there is no scope of making any compromise or showing any weakness on the question of political reform. So, the main objective of cooperation of all quarters should be to save the nation from the suicidal crises of corruption and criminalisation of politics by ensuring political reform. All sorts of cooperation should form the driving force behind the efforts to find the path and the techniques of implementing political reform.

The Caretaker government is not an elected government. It's a government meant for steering clear of national crises. Thus the real meaning of lending cooperation to the Caretaker government is making the efforts to overcome national crises a success. This responsibility set out cannot be shouldered only by the eleven members of the Council of Advisers. Establishment of corruption free good governance is the responsibility of the whole nation. All-out cooperation of the armed forces is essential for the discharge of the national objective for which the present change has been welcomed by the whole nation. One thing is sure-the people do not want to go back to past politics.