Political parties have the responsibility to hold fair polls: UK minister

The visiting junior British minister for international development has said that political parties have the “responsibility” to hold a free, fair and accountable election for the betterment of the people.

Lynne Featherstone was replying a question at a press briefing on Tuesday before leaving Dhaka at the end of her first visit.

As the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for international development, she is mostly responsible for women and girls’ issues. She came to Dhaka for a follow-up initiative to the Girls’ Summit held in London this July.

She spoke at the first Girls’ Summit Dhaka held on Monday and visited a slum in Mirpur to see how women were being empowered under a UK-funded project to end violence against them.

She called upon the youths to start a campaign to end child marriage in Bangladesh, known for the largest percentage of child marriage in South Asia.

But reporters at the briefing raised the issue of the Jan 5 elections that the UK found “constitutionally correct” but was disappointed as half of the seats returned uncontested due to a major opposition BNP boycott.

Featherstone said she was not here to talk about politics but what she felt was that it was the duty of the politicians to break the five-year cycle of political violence in Bangladesh, referring to the election time violence.

“Political parties are responsible to the people of Bangladesh and it is for the betterment of Bangladeshis that political parties need to get together,” she said highlighting the need of dialogue.

She said it was understandable that it was a challenge before the Jan 5 elections for the political parties to engage.

But she said this becomes increasingly important with passing time.

Lynne Featherstone met with Shabnaz, one of the girls who lives at Rahmat Camp.

“They are responsible to you. They have duty to you to find a way through and to make sure the five-year cycle (of violence) does not happen and the elections seem to be free, fair and accountable”.

Featherstone met with the Speaker of Parliament, Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, state minister for women and children affairs Meher Afroz Chumki, and state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam.

She also launched a safer-cities campaign for girls in Dhaka and visited Manikganj, on the outskirts of the capital, to see UK-backed renewable energy projects as a junior minister for international development.

She arrived on Sunday and leaves Tuesday evening.