As the Presidency and the office of Chief Advisor are two distinct positions, President Iajuddin Ahmed cannot be and is not the Chief Advisor. He is now the president with additional functions.

Therefore, it was a violation of the Constitution for the President to take the oath for the "office of Chief Advisor".

We are very confused whether the President has taken oath constitutionally as he has not paid heed to the opinion of constitution specialists like Dr. Kamal Hossain, Dr. M. Zahir, Mr. Rokonuddin, Barrister Amir-ul -Islam etc. However, we expect him now to play his constitutional role strongly.

He can take following steps in this regard:

He can request the controversial Election Commissioners to resign. We think they will not be able to disregard the request. The President should bring the proper change in the administration which has been manipulated by the past government with a view to influencing the next election.

He should take proper action against the so- called Godfathers created during the tenure of all the past governments so that they can't hamper the environment of peaceful election.

He should be careful about the neutrality of the government run BTV & Bangladesh Betar.

The law and order situation should be improved at any cost. No neutrality should be shown if people are attacked brutally as happened in the recent movement of 14-party alliance.

Mohammad Kazi Mamun Tolarbag, Mirpur

It seems the President was not following the provisions of the Article 58-C of the Constitution faithfully while considering the appointment of the Chief Advisor to the Caretaker Government. He invited political parties for discussion on the issue unnecessarily. The constitution does not allow it except for considering the fifth option under Art. 58-C. The president is supposed to proceed step by step himself. He is not required to seek the advice of anybody. The legal provisions are crystal clear.

Actually by discussing with the political parties, the president had brought upon himself unwarranted pressure, which he could not handle. The 4- party alliance did not specify why justice Mahmudul Amin Chowdhury was not acceptable to them but which the Awami League did in the case of justice KM Hasan. Without exhausting all the provisions of Art. 58-C, he has offered himself to be the Chief Advisor, which is a violation of the Constitution he is supposed to uphold. Moreover, the president is above 72 years old and therefore, unqualified for the post as per sub-section (7) (d) of Art.58-C. Furthermore, the president is a BNP nominated person. Hence, a partisan Man which is a disqualification for the post of C. A.

It is reported in the media that the Military Secretary to the president had approached the would be Chief Advisors over telephone. Why so? Why didn't the President himself talk to them? Are they not important enough?

We are sorry to say that the President has disappointed the whole nation in handling the important issue of appointing the Chief Advisor. Now the 4-party alliance have got the President, Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Advisor to the C.T.G.- all their nominees for holding the next general elections. Can we really accept the results of such elections? The Constitution has laid down clear guidelines in this respect but we have bungled the whole issue and have brought miseries to the people due to hunger for power of a few persons!

Abul Mohsin, Siddheswari, Dhaka