The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Communication Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader Sunday said the government is trying its utmost to persuade the political parties including Awami League and BNP to join the dialogue ahead of the parliamentary elections.

"We are hopeful about their participation," he told reporters at his Secretariat office in the morning.

The Adviser said the political parties had asked the government to arrange dialogue sans any condition and the government had done so. "Now they should sit in the dialogue as the government has kept its words."

The government, he said, has taken various steps to ensure participation of the political parties in the dialogue.

The Communication Adviser, however, declined to make any comment when asked if the government's initiatives include the release of detained prime ministers Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia.