But the nation's anxiety is not yet gone. The alliance has given a fresh three-day ultimatum for fulfilling their 11 point demand, with each point containing several demands. The alliance wants to see that their demands are met which, in their view, is the barest minimum to prove neutrality.

It is unnecessary to list the 11 points demand here as the readers are aware of them. The key question, however, is whether it is possible to fulfil all of them in a matter of days or hours while the politicians failed to even discuss them in the dialogue, not to speak of fulfilling them. The concerned citizens can also genuinely question the politicians why they did not take any initiative to resolve such issues when they were in power, alternatively, over the last 15 years.

The nation hopes that the president-cum-caretaker chief will try to remain neutral as far as possible and practicable. It is nice that he has already taken some administrative measures just in one day. The relevant political forces must appreciate it rather than burdening him with too many demands.

Many, if not all, of the 11 point demands may be genuine in view of the present politico- administrative situation. But, it must also be realized how many of them can be met immediately, and what measures can be taken to improve the situation.

Some of the demands can be implemented fairly soon, but possibly not in a couple of days. At least a couple of them have already been met, one fully and the other partially (removing the picture of the former prime minister from government offices, and the removal and transfer of several high officials). This must be seen as a good start, and has already given a signal that the president-cum-caretaker chief has stared doing what he should do over the next few months.

Fulfilling some other demands will definitely take time, and it will be unfair to the president-cum-caretaker chief, as well as to the nation, if any unreasonable ultimatum is imposed. To give just one example, correction of the voter list is a genuine demand, so is voter list with photos. But taking photographs of about 95 million voters cannot be done in a couple of days. It is not possible even in a couple of months. This will require extending the tenure of the caretaker government, which can be made up to 6 months, without amending the constitution. For this, a consensus is desirable apart from legal, administrative, and financial measures. It is, however, possible to postpone printing of the voter list until necessary corrections are made.

Another important demand is the removal of the chief election commissioner, other election commissioners, and the election commission secretary, thus reconstituting the Election Commission. This requires consensus between the major political parties, because they are divided on this issue. Even if they can agree on some change, the CEC and other election commissioners cannot just be removed. One option is resignation, which is beyond the control of the president-cum-caretaker chief. The other option is referring the case to the Supreme Judicial Council, but getting their decision is definitely not possible in a couple of days.

One political force has tabled at least 20 demands under 11 points. There are other political forces who can raise, and will definitely raise, other demands which can be completely opposite. Then what will the president-cum-caretaker chief do? Definitely, he will not be able to please everybody. He will have no alternative other than accepting some (reasonable and worth implementing) demands of one political force, making them partially happy, and he must accept at least some of the (reasonable and worth implementing) demands of the other forces as well. The opposing forces must realise that they cannot gain everything. They must accept a win-win situation and avoid zero-sum games.

Finally, as a concerned citizen, I would like to appeal humbly to the political forces to refrain from further agitation, and to resolve the relevant issues on the discussion table rather than on the streets. Even if they do go to the streets, the nation expects that the top leaders will instruct the party workers and supporters to maintain peace, and avoid conflict with other parties as well as with the law enforcing agencies.

The political forces must realize that people do not support the burning or breaking of vehicles and other properties, and killing or beating of people in the name of politics. By doing this, they can occupy streets, but not people's mind. The sooner the politicians realize this, the better is it for the nation, as well as for themselves.

Dr M Maniruzzaman is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.