In their speeches they implored each other for the initiation of a process whereby hartal will be banned through a law to be enacted, somewhat inexplicably, not now but when the caretaker government will have taken up the reins of government in October.

Perhaps, BNP leader Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan is resigned to the fate that the opposition might not be all too agreeable to forgoing the hartal option when they have launched into some kind of an agitation against the government. Representing the opposition camp Abdul Hamid could have been hardly expected to abandon hartal in the thick of a political movement. So, both of them ended up with the idea of using the caretaker government window of opportunity to banish hartal which promises to be equally advantageous to BNP and AL.

The positive thing about this is that it marks a change in their attitudes. The opposition used to be hell-bent on preserving the hartal option and the ruling party keen on seeing the back of hartal. But now they have agreed to ban hartal even though with a qualification that the prohibition be legislated(?) during the caretaker government's tenure.

While welcoming this we have to say that we don't agree with their timing for the contemplated change. Why not go for it right now by making a definitive, robust and unambiguous pronouncement to bring about the ban? A good and auspicious thing is elementally opposed to delay.

There are three convincing reasons why the initiation of the process of banning hartal mustn't be deferred until after the caretaker government is saddled in power: first, such a short-lived government mandated to hold elections must not be unnecessarily burdened with the task of decreeing a ban on hartal; secondly and more importantly, the law to be sustainable has to be passed through a parliament and not through any temporary mechanism being envisaged and thirdly, the economy being in a crisis situation cannot countenance hartals, howsoever sparingly, during the coming four months.