Dhaka, Jan 19 (BDNEWS) – A regional conference in Dhaka Thursday identified the rise in religious extremism, endemic poverty, deprivation and divisive political culture as the major constraints towards democratisation of the country.
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, who attended the conference, shared the view and said: "Our political culture, role and behavior still have to adjust and adapt to democratic norms and values. This takes time."
"In the past one and a half decade, the two major political parties – the Awami League and the BNP have yet to create a neutral political space meaning to talk and resolve issues within the bounds of civility and abiding by the rules of the game," Prof Ataur Rahman of University of Dhaka, who is also president of the Bangladesh Political Science Association (BPSA), said.
Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS), BPSA and Stamford University jointly organised the conference titled 'Rethinking Political Development: South Asian Security and Democracy" at the BIISS auditorium.
Chaired by BIISS Board of Governors Chairman Mufleh R Osmany, Prof Zillur Rahman Khan of Rosebush University presented the keynote paper.
Addressing the inaugural function, the Foreign Minister said democratisation, development and security are the new global imperatives that each state of the region must conform.
Citing the post 9/11 world perspective, Khan said, "...no nation is fully sovereign today – it has to decide in cooperation with others to achieve the goals of security of its people, resources and the territory."
On Bangladesh's democracy, the foreign minister said democracy has taken "firm root" in the country for only two decades. However, it would be wrong to term Bangladesh an 'ineffective state' on the ground of some 'security lapses', he argued.
The Foreign Minister lamented that while Bangladesh can reasonably assert that it does not harbour terrorists of any variety –Islamist or otherwise, the anti-Bangladesh propaganda is continuously trying to create confusion within and outside the country. "This unwanted, unpatriotic propaganda has created many difficulties for us."
Prof Ataur Rahman in a paper submitted in the conference was highly critical about present political culture. He said the output of Bangladesh parliament over the past 14 years has been "so poor" that people often take it as a "house of controversy and irrelevant speeches."
"Even in its own domain of legislation, the power of the parliament is highly circumscribed. Most of the bills originate outside the parliament in the executive bureaucracy," he said, adding the Prime Minister's 'manipulative' power and influence through patronage and control of the party has made the parliament ineffective.
BDNEWS/1359 hrs.
