Nagarik Oikya says talk with ‘army’ necessary

Nagarik Oikya has said the leaked telephone conversations of its convener, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, were part of the party’s plan to talk to all sections including the army in a bid to find a way out of the current political stalemate.

“The situation is being made fuzzy over the proposal to talk to some army officials. It is necessary to talk to everyone in politics,” the party’s central committee member Iftekhar Ahmed Babu said at a press conference in Dhaka on Tuesday.

“Inferring a 1/11-type or coup conspiracy from this is maligning. We proposed a national dialogue for peaceful ways to resolve the ongoing political crisis.

“We took various steps to that end. A new situation has arisen because of two conversations among them.”

Manna recently came under the spotlight by warning of a military takeover unless the government held dialogues with the BNP to end the political crisis.

Taking a dig at the government’s stance over political dialogue, Manna had said, “There is no alternative to dialogue (to end the political crisis). If anyone wants to avert it, it will lead to an unconstitutional process.”

Ruling Awami League leaders believe their former colleague Manna was one of the ‘players’ who supported the army-backed caretaker government, which ruled Bangladesh from 2007 to 2008.

In the conversation, he was heard expressing his intentions to sit with two army high-ups.

In another conversation with BNP Vice Chairman Sadeque Hossain Khoka, the former vice president (VP) of the Dhaka University Central Student Union (DUCSU) was heard saying that a few deaths could destabilise the government if a clash over occupying the university dormitories could be engineered.

However, Babu claimed they never supported violence and had been reaching out to the masses to bring an end to it.

“Students have always played a leading role in the movements in our country. So it is essential to establish and spread movement on the campuses. Manna was speaking about how that could be made possible in the present situation.”

“However, that conversation was twisted and allegation was raised that he wanted killings.”

He said he would continue to work for a dialogue in Manna's absence. “We have to think whether there is a deeper conspiracy at work behind Manna’s arrest and its denial.

“We want an immediate stop to the campaign against Manna and want to know the reason for his arrest. We also want his release for the greater good,” said Iftekhar.

Manna’s daughter Nilam Manna said her father was whisked away by plainclothesmen from her cousin Shahanama Sharmin’s Banani house around 3:30am on Tuesday.

But Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam said they did not pick up Manna.