Speakers, including politicians, academics and civil-society members, at a discussion on Saturday said that Bangladesh had developed economically over the last 50 years, but was still far from achieving its goals —equality, human dignity and social justice — for which people fought the War of Independence in 1971.
Development of a country cannot be sustainable without the rule of law, they emphasised.
The Centre for Governance Studies, a non-government organisation, organised the discussion titled ‘50 Years of Bangladesh: Pathways and Trajectories’ in the city.
The speakers said that establishing equality, containing corruption and ensuring governance in various sectors and putting in place a democratic system were major challenges for the country to sustain its economic development.
Addressing the inaugural session virtually, eminent lawyer and member of the drafting committee of Bangladesh’s constitution M Amir-ul Islam hoped that people would continue their struggle until their dream was achieved.
The struggle will continue unless the dreams behind the liberation war — equality, human dignity and social justice — materialised in the country, said Amir, also a former minister.
Former minister and opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party vice-chairman Hafiz Uddin Ahmed alleged that people now did not have the freedom of speech and the judiciary was yet to be independent even 50 years after the country’s independence.
‘We fought for democracy in 1971, but there is no democracy in the country now…In the last three elections, I could not even cast my own votes although I was elected Member of Parliament six times… Now election takes place in the night before the voting. People cannot cast their votes. We did not fight for this Bangladesh,’ he told the inaugural session.
He said that the history of liberation war was being distorted.
There were 80,000 freedom fighters as listed after the country’s liberation but the number is now increasing every year as there are ‘pecuniary benefits’ to get, he added.
According to Illinois State University, USA distinguished professor Ali Riaz, who virtually joined the panel discussion on governance, the power is concentrating in the governance system of the country where the prime minister is also the leader of parliament and there is no way of asking the PM for any kind of transparency.
The democratic mandate is missing, he said, adding that non-state actors have been silenced.
Citizens for Good Governance founder-secretary Badiul Alam Majumder said that spaces for civic and political rights were shrinking.
He said that the Digital Security Act 2018 was being applied while the Road Safety Act 2018, which could have done good to people, had not been implemented.
Fisheries and livestock minister SM Rezaul Karim said that democracy was ruined by military rulers in the past.
‘We have made tremendous development in different sectors, but cannot say we have been able to prevent corruption,’ he added.
Centre for Policy Dialogue executive director Fahmida Khatun said that Bangladesh had progressed at a high rate though it had not done well in governance compared with other South Asian countries.
She said that sustainable development was not possible without the rule of law.
CGS chairman Manjur Ahmed Chowhdury in the inaugural session said that Bangladesh had struggled a lot over the past 50 year but was yet to be a perfect country.
He said that efforts were on to make it a people’s republic.
Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh Ito Naoki, Turkish ambassador Mustafa Usman Turan, UNDP Bangladesh resident representative Sudipto Mukerjee, former army chief of staff Lieutenant General (retired) M Harun-Ar-Rashid and CGS executive director Zillur Rahman also addressed the sessions, among others.
Local government minister Md Tazul Islam, railways minister Md Nurul Islam Sujon, former health minister AFM Ruhul Haq, former state minister for foreign affairs Abul Hasan Chowdhury, former Bangladesh Nationalist Party lawmaker Zahir Uddin Swapon, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry former president Sabur Khan, Dhaka University professor Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, CGS adviser and international security expert Saira Khan, Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies senior research fellow Nazneen Ahmed and New Age editor Nurul Kabir, among others, spoke in various panel sessions throughout the day.
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