After some manoeuvring, which the main opposition party did to defend its stand, it finally announces its decision -- a blow to the government's hope that it would budge from its position at the last moment.

A torrent of accusations and counter-accusations follow. The speaker writes to AL chief Sheikh Hasina, assuring fulfillment of all the opposition demands, but fails to elicit a positive response. The AL calls it a delayed and deceptive move.

That said, neither side appears to be oblivious of the repercussions of holding the CPA conference without the participation of opposition lawmakers. The AL sends a special emissary to London to make the Commonwealth leaders understand that it is boycotting the conference to protest the extremely 'uncooperative' attitude of the government. The AL feels it has been denied the position it deserves, the BNP does not quite agree. It would be interesting to know how the Com-monwealth leaders themselves apportion the blame.

BNP leaders are unhappy with the disobliging guests (opposition lawmakers) and blast their decision as a great blunder. They offer good counsel, though not solicited, to the AL; remind it of the hazards of boycotting the conference; and reach the conclusion that the opposition's plan is to disgrace the nation. The AL is trying hard to be understood, particularly by the CPA parliamentarians, but is not moved by the BNP's appeal.

The leaders of other political parties, who do not have much to do from the sidelines, have also begun to speak. JSD (Inu) chief Hasanul Haq Inu takes the first shot at the organisers of the conference in an interview with a local television channel. He questions the rationale behind holding the conference in Bangladesh, where, he believes, the democratic institutions are not functioning smoothly and terms the conference a luxury that Bangladesh cannot afford.

JP(Manju) Chairman Anwar Hossain Manju, however, takes a totally different view of the situation. He says there was no consensus on any issue whatsoever between the major parties in the past and it is pointless to expect that the 'big two' will ever be able to reach any understanding in future either. Manju claims that even the last three parliamentary elections were not above controversy. So the JP leader is not surprised by what is going on between the BNP and the AL.

The AL's decision is not a natural one , but political analysts are not surprised when they consider it in terms of the party's highly antagonistic relations with the BNP.

The AL, for its part, knows it has swallowed a strong pill, and is now trying to neutralise the likely ill effects. The BNP is there to tell it that the effects will be hard to manage.

Though the government is blamed for the way it has handled the preparatory phase of the conference, most political leaders believe the opposition should not boycott it. Observers still hope that something dramatic might happen before the conference begins. The million-dollar question is, will the AL change its mind? So far there is no indication that it will.

Meantime, the political scene is getting murky. The AL called a countrywide hartal on Saturday and its women pickets came under a brazen attack . Policewomen tugged at the clothes of the pickets and that cut deep into the mass psyche. There was a plethora of photographs of 'women in distress' carried by the press. The incident brought forth an avalanche of condemnation from different quarters throughout the week.

Values and norms appeared to be the biggest casualty of politics degenerating into a crude brawl. Its crudeness became all the more manifest in the attack on the women pickets.

AL rallies and meetings came under attack on Monday also. It seems the political atmosphere has suddenly been charged by the opposition's resolve to go for a vigorous movement against the government and the latter's determination to take a tough stand on it.

Home Minister Altaf Hossain Choudhury -- whose overly simplified presentation of truths did not always please his party in the past -- makes another startling disclosure. He says 70,000 cases filed against BNP adherents by the past AL government have been withdrawn! That is transparency at its unmistakable best, but what about fair play, law and justice?

The revelation might cause as much embarrassment to the AL as to the BNP. The AL may feel uneasy with the unusually high number of cases filed against their political opponents, while the BNP high command will consider it an unnecessary invitation to its detractors to launch another assault.