Bdnews24.com

The dialogue with political parties will not be successful without the participation of Awami League, the party's acting president Zillur Rahman cautioned Thursday.

"The Awami League has not taken a final decision on whether to go to the dialogue or not," Zillur told reporters after a meeting with leaders of Samyabadi Dal at his Gulshan home.

Zillur said other political parties were deciding to take part in the dialogue as they felt "it was better to join the talks than staying away completely".

However, the AL acting president claimed Samyabadi Dal was going to the dialogue in some confusion. "The party will tell the government that the dialogue without the Awami League will not be successful," Zillur said.

Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua said: "We decided to go to dialogue. We hope that the Awami League, too, will go."

But he added that his party would demand that the participation of AL in the dialogue be ensured. "Dialogue can't be meaningful without AL's participation," Dilip Barua said.

Zillur also told reporters the chief adviser's recent address to the nation did not reflect what had been discussed in the pre-dialogue talks.

"There were no conditions in the pre-dialogue talks. And the dialogue was also supposed to be held without any conditions. There have now been conditions imposed."

"The chief adviser spoke of a 'national charter' in his address to the nation. We don't know what will be in the charter," he said.

Zillur said the AL and Samyabadi Dal agreed in Thursday's meeting that the constitution of 1972 would be their charter. "That charter could be reformed if necessary."

Dilip Barua said the state of emergency must be lifted soon and an unelected government was not entitled to formulate a national charter. "It is only parliament that can create a national charter."