Not only has the dialogue began, its first session ended on a positive note auguring well for the rest.

The leader of the House PM Begum Khaleda Zia and the opposition leader Sheikh Hasina have set a positive tenor to the talks in their respective speeches on the last day of the last session of the eighth parliament on Wednesday. Barring some sparsely appearing ballistic remarks against each other, their speeches on the whole were restrained, introspective and forward looking. The positive mood of expectancy they reflected should reverberate throughout the dialogue engagement up until it comes to a logical conclusion.

The PM is absolutely right when she suggests that the agreement on the contentious issues of reform should come about before her government's tenure is over. A similar sense of urgency found resonance in the opposition leader Sheikh Hasina's address to the parliament. She maintained that the change the opposition was looking for in the caretaker government need not require a constitutional amendment.

It is of utmost importance now that leaders on both sides copiously refrain from indulging in any inflammatory statement on the sidelines of the dialogue. The notion that any leader of the government or the opposition can take some liberty with their public speeches to hurl negative words at each other and still persist on the path of engagement must be completely eschewed. It is a hard-earned dialogue that the government and opposition are having and they can't squander the precious opportunity for a by-partisan understanding by any irresponsible utterances.

The opposition and the government ought to keep realistic expectations about the outcome of the dialogue. Their approach to the reform issues needs to be pragmatic, flexible and accommodative. The very fact that they have initiated the dialogue without preconditions means that they have started from a vantage point to carry forward the talks in a constructive and result-oriented manner. There must be willingness on both sides to concede something to gain something.

Press being key to information dissemination about the progress or otherwise of the dialogue, should be given access to the process. It is incumbent upon all concerned that press briefings are given on a daily basis and that these are in the shape of statements jointly issued by the government and the opposition.