Fortunately for Prof Yunus, it has not yet been well received by BNP, from whose forum it is generally perceived to have been announced. Had BNP welcomed it, Awami League would have rejected it outright. This hasn't happened so far, thank God. So, there is still some hope.

Commentators and cartoonists have responded to this proposal unfavourably. Some thought it was a bit naive. Let us consider the peace proposal with an eye to the reality on the ground.

What is the reality to day? For the two major political parties it is very simple and straightforward. Losing an election is too costly and the benefit of winning it is fathomless (readers may kindly read "The Election Conundrum" by Mahfuz Anam in the Forum magazine, November edition, for more on this). Unfortunately, we have not been bestowed with the kind of leadership who will risk losing an election for the sake of justice and fair play. The leadership can give up democratic principles smilingly for winning an election.

So what can be done? Our leadership has to be forced into the genuine and unfettered democratic process through wide-scale reforms. How can these reforms be carried out? Prof.Yunus's proposal for a peace accord has to be given a chance.

The sad reality in Bangladesh is that any reform carried out by either major political party alone will be looked upon with suspicion by the other. Hence, it is of paramount necessity that these wide-ranging and vital reforms have to be carried out by both major parties together. Again this will not happen if either is in power and the other remains out of it.

So, they both have to be in power together to carry out these reforms, which they will be duty-bound to adhere to. To cite an example, neither BNP nor Awami League, disapproves of parliamentary form government, only because they had agreed to it prior to 1991 general election (As far as I can recall, BNP was very much opposed to it initially). But the BNP was forced into accepting the caretaker system almost single-handedly by Awami League. Hence, BNP finds it expedient to try and derail it at the slightest opportunity.

The present crisis can be seen as an outcome of lack of sincerity. The immediate past government has succeeded in forming a de facto BNP government in the name and shape of the caretaker government, whose true nature is now quite apparent. This would not have happened had BNP and AL worked it out together.

Through his proposal, Prof Yunus only provides a viable option for BNP and AL to work things out together. In the present day scenario, this cannot happen because as per public perception, BNP continues to remain in power while AL continues to remain in opposition. To work out lasting and durable reforms, they have to be on a level ground as they were during the period of pre-1991 general elections. This can now be enacted only through the acceptance of something like Prof. Yunus's peace agreement.

Frankly speaking, if both sides only announce their readiness to negotiate the peace agreement, many problems like partisan bureaucracy, etc will be resolved automatically. One senior bureaucrat rightly said the other day: "We function like Aladdin's Lamp, whosoever holds the lamp, we work for him."

Present day perception is that, the lamp is not at the hands of CTG, but elsewhere. Besides this, the provision of formation of election overview team jointly by BNP and AL will automatically lead the current partisan Election Commission and its machinery, to the path of neutrality.

The idea of the coalition government will shy away the "investor candidates" from seeking nomination for the simple reason that the rate of return from the invested capital may not be lucrative enough under a coalition government scenario. Good candidates will stream into the election process. The coalition government from the position of power will carry out rest of the essential reforms after the election.

BNP does not want to accept the plan because that will rule out their single-handed return to power, for which the stage has been set at colossal effort and cost, which will go in vain. No wonder they haven't welcomed it, even though it came from a forum organized by them.

But they couldn't reject it either because they are fearful of losing public support. BNP knows, if they can somehow rush through the election process with an "elected" government sworn in hurriedly by a compliant president, they can take care of things, i.e., continued their reign of plunder.

If AL accepts the peace proposal, they have little to lose. They will certainly emerge as the majority party with two-thirds of the cabinet and the post of the prime minister. The only "loss" that I can visualize is that they won't be able to settle score against BNP during the coalition period. They will have to remain within the bounds of law, logic, and democratic traditions all at the same time. And this will set a good precedence.

I sincerely hope that BNP, Awami League, other political parties, people in general, and the press, will give this peace proposal a chance. This will surely stand the country in good stead.

Waliul Haque Khondker is a freelance contributor to The Daily Star.