The state of emergency stopped the sound and fury of the last two and a half months. We are going nowhere until the house is put in order. In his speech, the president brought out the skeleton from the cupboard. The voter list is faulty.

His acceptance of the folly of one-party election was an act of wisdom. The three points culled from his call are: one, that the present electoral machinery cannot hold a credible and meaningful national poll. Two, that the task cannot be done within the 90-day time frame. Third, and most important of all, that the nation should not return to the brink.

The Election Commission, in its present form and with its outmoded logistics, lacks credibility. It stuck wryly to a sermonizing stand that everything was on the right course. The acting CEC, in particular, was derisive of the many questions that were raised.

By the president's admission, the commission and the acting CEC stand compromised. It is understood that the commission has spent Taka 113 crores on the suspended electoral procedure. The inefficiency should stop here. There is a growing belief that the additions and alterations in the roll were not conducted in a professional manner. A new voter list, professionally done by a new set of professionals, is the best bet. It would be convenient to have an identity check in the form of ID cards of the voters.

The whole process will take time. It is almost certain that the polls cannot be held within the stipulated time frame of 90 days. There is a legal aspect about it. One cannot discount the possibility of political furor raising its head. The obvious ground will be for expeditious transfer of power to the elected representatives. A legal coverage for the caretaker government would be a wise course.

There is a perception that the constitution had been violated when the president assumed the office of the chief of the caretaker government. Albeit under a compelling situation. There is a catch in it. The constitution does not have any explicit provision for the president to take over the office of the CCG. Neither does it bar the president from assuming the office. A legal interpretation supporting such extension will be fair as long as all the contending parties agree to it. But it will be less than enough. The other course would be to seek the support of the judiciary.

The best thing for the country would be for the political alliances to understand that the nation cannot be served if they rush through the polls. Holding of a credible election will need time. It better be a tripartite effort. After the expiry of the time period, the cloud of extra-constitutionality may still hang over the CG. It is necessary that it should strive along a charted and agreed course.

The transformation we are going through has the potential to rid our democratic process of the malaise and follies of the past. The emerging economy of Bangladesh will benefit most from it. There is a groundswell of popular disenchantment with the covetous nature of our national politics. Sad to say, the entire range of public representation stands tainted. This is the message of the time. It will find a place in the agenda of the caretaker government on its own merit. For it has all the virulent pathogens of a national calamity.

The issue is not directly related to the task of holding polls, but surely it is related to the quality of its outcome. Naturally the stock-taking of the tainted should go ahead. The task of nation building will suffer at the hands of those who do not have any moral scruples in robbing the country brick by brick.

Now that the political standoff is going through a cooling period, one may naturally ask how sensible it was for the two major alliances to take the country to the brink. Not at all! The bellicosity was contemptuous of what it can do to the country and its people. They only care for the end not the means. Both the combines want to go power. There is nothing unholy about that, but, one may rightly ask, at what cost? The battle plans of the two alliances were unfeeling to say the least. For the fury and perfidy at the heart was highly combustible. The country saw macabre homicides. The state of emergency came to the rescue.

When the situation was heating up, one of the two alliances was smugly invoking the name of the book, the constitution, while the other, visibly aggrieved, was ranting, fuming and drawing battle formation against the maligned and embattled president.

Meantime, the alliance for the book was taking cover under the inviolability of the book that they are alleged to have handicapped by their set of plans. Everybody was talking to everybody. Nobody was listening to anybody. Above all, the alliances were not talking to each other. Strangely, in the last fifteen years, whenever they talked they failed. This time they should talk, and they cannot fail. Because the business of politics is the business of the politicians. It is the foremost lesson that the nation has learnt from the journey to the brink.

Meaningful and earnest political dialogue between the alliances is the need of the time, resolving that we do not visit the brink again. Why, if it succeeds even the caretaker government may no longer be needed. The present caretaker government can act as a facilitator, but not as a party to the process. It is not a tall order.

First, it better be a true parliamentary system, not the "prime ministerial" form of government we have at present. Then, let the executive cede a reasonable, but not compromising, amount of power, to make the president an effective guardian of the country, not a figurehead. Surely, the Election Commission and the anti-corruption body can thrive under the president's non-partisan leadership. The independence of the judiciary should proceed with speed.

For all this to take place, the alliances have to reach a consensus on a president and a speaker. This will endow the parliamentary process with a salutary spirit of accommodation and partnership. The losing party will no longer have to sweat under the sun and get drenched in the rain out in the streets of Dhaka. Let the political alliances prove that they are as good as the trust they are seeking from the people.

Syed Maqsud Jamil is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.