US president Abraham Lincoln once elaborated on the dangers facing the Americans. He said some trans-Atlantic military wasn't going to crush them with a blow. Nor all the armies of Europe and Asia "could by force take a drink from the Ohio River or make a track on the Blue Ridge in the trial of a thousand years." He then said if destruction was the lot of the Americans, it must be them who will be its author and finisher. As a nation, he concluded, the Americans will either live as free men forever or die by suicide.

As a nation, time has come for us to think whether we have arrived at that crossroads. That we cannot agree on anything is obvious, and now we cannot even agree to disagree because our political situation has lost its gravity and descended into a terrible chaos. Who runs the government isn't so relevant now, because the country itself is in clear and present danger.

Not all of us agree even on that precarious situation. The government claims everything is under control, and the opposition is determined to disrupt. The players don't obey the rules of the game, and the playground has turned into a pandemonium. 

Consequently, what has been happening is escalation. There is escalation of violence, vengeance and vitriolic as arrogance is met with arrogance, hatred with hatred and bomb attacks with shootouts. If destruction is our lot, the British or the Pakistani rulers couldn't be its author and finisher. This self-destructive nation is losing its anchor in the midst of sustained showdown. It seems determined to axe its own foot.

Last Tuesday, foreign diplomats met with the BNP chairperson to tell her the same thing. The UN secretary general, the US secretary of state and the European Union have all pleaded with both sides to infuse that same good sense in them. It certainly undermines the sovereignty of a country when foreign powers have to get involved and tell its leaders that their bitter struggle is pushing it to the brink.

A freedom-loving nation has bifurcated itself over the irreconcilable differences amongst its politicians. And it invokes the irony of a food fight when revelers in their excitement not only waste food but also smash the dishes. Any country is like a receptacle where politicians get to demonstrate their political skills. It's a pity they don't realise this receptacle is crucial for them as canvas is for painting.

That failure has to do with their understanding of politics. A government in a democratic process always is a compromise between two contending sides that those who have the people's mandate will rule the country. If any government says it's not ready to compromise or negotiate, it denies the very precept on which it has been founded. That's the fundamental difference between a colonial power that occupies a country and a government chosen by its people.

Our politicians speak of government while they must be thinking of occupation in their subconscious minds. That's why they have this mixed approach of wooing the voters before the elections and subjugating them afterwards. They are a curious blend of hegemonic intentions and populist pretensions. These politicians outwardly behave like patriots but inwardly they have got the instincts of foreign exploiters.

Today's confrontation is head-on collision at two levels. At one level these politicians within each political party are at conflict with themselves. They are torn between their outward and inward identities, using the country as backward linkage to take forward private ambitions.

At another level each party is at conflict with the other as they vie for power and wealth. Love of country is no more than what sleight of hand is to a magician. It's deplorable how people are ignored in this People's Republic when leaders are having ego hassles. 

Politics should never be an endgame though it's compared to chess. Instead, it must be like poker, where cards can be reshuffled and re-cut to deal a new hand. Our politicians, in their mindless pursuit of selfish interests, have turned their noble profession into a mortal combat.

Where will this combat end? This is where we must draw the line between living as free men forever and self destructing. And this can come in many forms. It can be an unending political turmoil with unforeseen consequences. It can lead to yet another long haul of supra-constitutional rule, to speak of the least.

The clock is ticking and the time is running out. If we refuse to sit with each other, we might have to sit with the devil. The foreign diplomats have taken an initiative, and it must not go in vain. It may be the chilling last call before things get out of hand.

The writer is Editor, First News and an opinion writer for The Daily Star. 
Email: badrul151@yahoo.com