Meanwhile, after a series of meetings the 14-party line-up yesterday set up a 7-member committee to draft a reply to the BNP secretary general's letter inviting it to the dialogue. The committee members are 14-party coordinator Abdul Jalil, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Rashed Khan Menon, Hasanul Haque Inu, Pankaj Bhattacharya and Enamul Haque.

The committee starts working today and is expected to finalise the opposition's response in a couple of days.

Sources said the opposition camp would ask the ruling BNP to disclose the names of the government representatives on its proposed 10-member discussion committee on the reform agenda.

The 14-party combine would want to know who the government negotiators are as it yesterday arrived at a consensus to shun the dialogue if any Jamaat man is on the discussion committee. The decision was based on the opposition's allegation that the ruling coalition partner Jamaat is connected with Islamist militancy and liberation war crimes.

It is crystal clear that Jamaat patronised militancy in the country and supported them financially, politically and administratively, a number of 14-party leaders told The Daily Star last night. It is proven that a Jamaat-linked bank helped the militants, they said, adding Jamaat men were also involved in war crimes in 1971.

"If the government does not exclude Jamaat from the committee, the dialogue will face a deadlock," 11-party coordinator Dilip Barua told The Daily Star.

On the other side, after the Jamaat issue has come to the fore, the BNP is now also considering the option of sitting with the AL alone to discuss the reforms.

Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), National Awami Party (NAP) and left-leaning 11-party alliance have already authorised the main opposition AL to discuss the reform issues with the BNP on their behalf.

Sources in the AL said they would sit with the BNP if it creates the 'right' environment for the dialogue.

"I hope the BNP will stick to its earlier position as it stated in its first letter regarding the discussion," AL Presidium Member Suranjit Sengupta told The Daily Star yesterday. He posed the question why the BNP is now attempting to include its allies in the committee, knowing that one of the major demands of the opposition camp is to ban 'religion-based politics'.

Most of the AL's allies are suggesting that a seven- or nine-member team should represent their alliance in the dialogue in stead of the five-member team proposed by the BNP secretary general.

Some sources also said the 7-member drafting committee formed yesterday might represent the opposition school. However, they said another leader might replace Jalil, if BNP Secretary General Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan does not appear in the government side.

According to insiders, the BNP is also mulling expanding the number of committee members. The BNP side may comprise Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, KM Obaidur Rahman, Tariqul Islam, MK Anwar, Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, Akbar Hossain and Khandaker Delwar Hossain. Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid from Jamaat and Naziur Rahman Manju from Bangladesh Jatiya Party may be included in the government side if the AL forms its team with leaders of its 14-party allies.

On the Jamaat issue, BNP Standing Committee Member Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain said, "If they [AL] include 14-party leaders in the proposed committee then we also can include leaders of our coalition partners."

"Jamaat has 16 seats in parliament. So they have a right to be on the committee," Mosharraf, who is also the health and family welfare minister, added.

Another BNP policymaker said they could exclude Jamaat if the AL omits its coalition partners from the committee.

14-PARTY MEETING
Senior leaders of the 14-party alliance yesterday sat at the AL Bangabandhu Avenue office and discussed the Jamaat issue in detail but could not take a final decision. They adjourned the meeting and resumed it with Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina in the chair at her Sudha Sadan residence.

Abdul Jalil, Rashed Khan Menon, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Motia Chowdhury, Obaidul Quader, Hasanul Haque Inu, Syed Jafar Sazzad, Dilip Barua, Bimal Biswas and Nurul Islam were among the participants.

Meeting sources said Hasina categorically directed her 14-party colleagues not to go for the talks with the government if it includes any Jamaat man in the discussion committee.

The opposition combine will continue with movement along with the discussion, Jalil told the press at a briefing after the meeting. He said they have decided to go forward with the April 19 sit-in in front of the Prime Minister's Office.

He also criticised the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues for trying to mislead people about the opposition's reform agenda. "We placed the reform proposal to establish people's rights, not to oust anyone from power or to help anyone get it," Jalil, also the AL general secretary, said.