We have had a glimpse, over the past 24 hours, of the lawlessness and chaos as a consequence of the failed dialogue. We saw brutality of unspeakable magnitude, pitched battles between activists of the AL, BNP, and Jamat, loss of lives, and destruction of private and public property, not to speak of the tremendous inconvenience to the people returning home from the Eid holidays.

But was this inevitable? Should not the political parties display more prudence in their behaviour and realise that political differences cannot be solved through violence and confrontation? Neither the image of the country nor the state of our politics will be served, nor can the current problem be solved through violence and physical confrontation. The spate of clashes that saw attacks and counter attacks by the activists of the BNP, Jamaat, and AL on each other have so far cost more than a dozen lives.

The violence, bordering on mayhem, that we witnessed all over the country would convey to the ordinary man that in Bangladesh the final arbiter of political disputes is not logic, nor the existing constitutional provisions, nor the court of law, nor flexibility or tolerance in approaching a seemingly intractable situation, but raw muscle power manifested through perpetration of violence on political opponents.

The call by one of the parties to come prepared with staves and sticks in case the government did not meet its demands regarding the head of the caretaker government, with similar riposte by the other political party, could only be a recipe for violence.

And that is what we saw on the streets in various parts of the country recently.

However, there is no further excuse for any delay, neither is there any impedimenta for the president to appoint the chief of the caretaker government, now that the first in line for reckoning to that post, Justice KM Hasan, the person at the centre of the current political crisis, has expressed his unwillingness to take up the post, at last.

The potential constitutional crisis, as some averred might have ensued if Justice Hasan were bypassed for the sake of avoiding further violence stemming from a serious political discord, no longer exists. Neither is there any scope for further dialogues between the two parties, as the president has suggested they sit down to, since they have failed to rise to the occasion to prevent a likely volatile situation stemming from their mutually exclusive and antagonistic stance.

The ball is firmly in the president's court and he must not waste time dribbling with it. He must play it deftly to deliver the country from a political crisis, which may witness increased violence in the country, within the constitutional prescriptions.

He must rise above personal or party predilections.

One might ask why took it so long for Justice Hasan to decide that it was not for him to assume the role of the caretaker head, given the tremendous uncertainty that we were cast into with the BNP-led coalition and the AL-led 14-party alliance, respectively, opting to hold fast to their support for, and opposition to, the former chief justice. One finds it extremely difficult to ascribe to Justice Hasan the lack of perceptivity of the possible outcome in the event he took over the post of the head of the interim government.

If it was the sake of the country's well being that has compelled him not to take up the post, was it not better coming sooner than now? A safe assumption as to why his refusal to take over the caretaker chief's role was so late in coming would be that Justice Hasan's expression of his non-availability now was not of his own volition, and the fact that he did he not give it sooner was not of his own free will either. Clearly he was being back seat driven. He was under the diktat of those that wanted to see him as the head of the caretaker government at any cost, and had resorted to very disingenuous means to ensure that was what actually happened.

But, be that as it may, the country is being made to suffer because the political parties had taken irreconcilable stances on the issue of Justice KM Hasan. Most feel that they had put their party interests before all else. It was not that they did not see it coming, but couldn't bother less about the public inconvenience, or the potential adverse impact on the country's economy, let alone the "image" that the politicians are so sensitive about. Had it been so they would have worked out a modus vivendi to tide over the impasse without the violence, that was entirely avoidable, but, nonetheless, something that they were not unwilling to countenance. The violence that we have witnessed over the last 24 hours may intensify unless the president takes immediate action to quell it.

It is indeed a sad commentary on the state of our politics and the political adroitness of our leaders. This was summed up by a young lady stranded on the outskirts of the capital on her way back from Eid holidays. She minced no words in saying that she was ashamed that she was a citizen of Bangladesh where politics has degenerated to merely attaining power, or clinging on to power. The common people did not matter. It perhaps echoes the feeling of many Bangladeshis about the utter irresponsibility displayed by our politicians in tackling sensitive political issues.

There are bound to be discords in a democratic set up. But in a mature democracy political discords are resolved politically, without taking recourse to violence. To sagacious politicians the interest of the people comes first; after all, that is the purpose of politics. But not so in Bangladesh. The be all and end all is attaining power.

With the exchange of rhetoric and threats of retaliating violence with violence, time is the most crucial factor for the president. But the political parties must also rein in their activists and stop the violence immediately. It needs hardly to be said that our political leaders must display more wisdom in addressing political issues. Otherwise, democracy in our country will be dealt a severe blow, politics will get an even worse name, and more and more of our progenies will feel ashamed to be Bangladeshi.

The author is Editor, Defense & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star.