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Regional
dialogue at Comilla
Speakers at the regional dialogue in
Comilla (May 20, 2006) extended full support to the civil society
initiative for honest and dedicated candidates in the general
election to be held in 2007.
They demanded extensive reform in the
electoral system so that black money and hooliganism cannot dominate
the election.
They pointed out that there is no
alternative to honest and dedicated leadership for ensuring good
governance. They also suggested bringing reforms in the political
parties and a massive change in the political culture of the
country.
Around four hundred local civil
society members including politicians, non-government organisation
(NGO) workers, lawyers, teachers, social workers, and cultural
activists attended the dialogue on 'accountable development and
election 2007'. Among them around one hundred spontaneously
participated in the discussion and vowed to take the campaign to the
grassroots level.
They observed that democracy should
not be hostage to a section of wealthy people who gathered money
through illegal ways. They also demanded drug free Bangladesh, ban
on religion-based politics, registration of the political parties
and bar on participation in the general election by bill defaulters.
The speakers also suggested reform in
the education system introducing uniform primary education for all.
They pointed out that many social problems could be resolved through
creating awareness among the people about their rights.
The dialogue was organised by the non
governmental think tank Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in
cooperation with The Daily Star, the daily Prothom Alo and Channel i.
As part of the third round of such
regional dialogues the event at Bir Chandra auditorium located at
the heart of the town was presided over by Porf Ameer Ali Chowdhury.
The next round of the dialogue will be held in Barisal next
Saturday.
President of Comilla Lawyers
Association Syed Abdullah Pintu and former president of Bangladesh
Medical Association Dr Mosleh Uddin were special guests.
Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury and Prof
Mahmuda Islam spoke for Nagorik Committee while Mahfuz Anam, editor
of the Daily Star, and Abdul Qauyum, joint-editor of the daily
Prothom Alo participated in the dialogue on behalf of the organisers.
Executive Director of CPD Dr Debapriya
Bhattacharya conducted the lively dialogue.
Speaking as special guest advocate
Syed Abdullah Pintu called upon the people to bring a social
revolution for bringing transparency in the electoral system.
“Social injustice should be resisted
through social movements,” he observed. Opposing the idea of selling
natural resources to any foreign company Pintu said, “We should not
bring another East India Company in the name of investment.”
“Natural gas is our resource and
nobody should be allowed to exploit it depriving our people.”
Prof Ameer Ali suggested inclusion of
a call for courageous persons in the slogan for honest and dedicated
candidates. "We need courageous people as well as honest and
dedicated candidates", he said.
“On the other hand, there should be
some sort of measures in our electoral process so that nobody can be
elected through extra-mechanisms,” he added.
Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said policy
makers are bound to understand the people's need if pressure is
maintained on them by the civil society. He noted that there are
many examples where the government adopted a new policy after
getting pressured by the civil society.
Successive governments were forced to
accept a number of recommendations prepared by a taskforce led by
Prof Rehman Sobhan, he noted.
Jamilur Reza observed that the country
will face a serious environmental disaster as the rivers and water
bodies are being filled up by encroachers. Although the government
promulgated an act for preserving water bodies, most of the people
are not abiding by the act.
Mahfuz Anam said the politicians
failed to reflect the aspirations of the people. He called upon the
people to speak out against misrule of governments applying their
citizens' rights.
He observed that good governance will
come when honest and dedicated leaders will be elected.
Participating in the discussion Prof
Mahmuda Islam observed that the political parties should nominate
candidates observing the aspirations of the people.
Advocate Salma Ali suggested bringing
practice of democracy in the political parties. She said retired
persons from government services should not be allowed to be
candidates in the election.
Among the local civil society members
who participated in the discussion were, AKM Mofizur Rahman,
Shafiqul Islam Sikder, Advocate Golam Faruq, Abdullahel Baqi,
Mofizudin Ahmed, Advocate Afzal Khan, Liakat Ali, Zahidur Rahman
Mamun, Bahaduruzzman, Dr Ali Hossain Chowdhury, Nirmal Chandra Das,
Mahbubur Rahman, Hosne Ara Mina, Masuk Ahmed Chowdhury, Zamir Uddin
Khan, Mominul Haque, Shah Alamgir, Jahanara Begum, Shah Mohammad
Selim, Sharmeen Kader, Zahirul Haque Dulal, Gaziul Hassan Khan,
Ekushe award recipient Dr Zobaeda Hannan, AKM Bahauddin Bahar, Kazi
Najmus Sadaat, Nure Alam Bhuiyan, Papri Bose, Nripendra Kumar
Chakrabarti, Abul Hasnat Babul, Advocate Nazmul Alam Chowdhury Noman,
Omar Farook, Zohara Anis, Masud Altaf Chowdhury, Ahmed Shoeb Sohel,
Abdul Hai Bablu, Rajin Rabbi, Fakhrul Huda Helal, Prof Shafiqur
Rahman, Yasmeen Reema, and Mobarak Hossain.
Copied from
The Daily Star website (Sunday,
May 20, 2006)
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supplement published in The Daily Star
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