Bangladesh political efforts in course

While the Chief Advisor (CA) of the military backed interim government of Bangladesh was inaugurating the SAARC ministerial meeting on Climate Change, political dialogue with Bangladesh Awami League was in course, the local leaders of four city corporations and nine municipalities were enthusiastic to file their candidature and a government authority was engaged in filing another graft case against Begume Khaleda Zia, Chairperson of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and her elder son Tareq Zia; both of them are detained for months on corruption charges. On the other hand AL president Sheikh Hasina was addressing in a gathering abroad.

SAARC ministerial meeting on Climate Change, held in Dhaka, declared that they will work together to build regional capacity to face the impact of the changing climate. The meeting agreed on a declaration, titled "Dhaka Declaration" and observed that climate change is substantively the result of greenhouse gas emissions by the developed countries for over two centuries.

It now poses a direct threat to sustainable development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the developing nations that have little or no responsibility for the current process of climate change.

The meeting also acknowledged that the every member state has the right to food, energy and water security and ministers also agreed to meet before taking national positions in any international negotiations on environment.

On the morning of July 03, 2008, while CA of Bangladesh government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed was inaugurating the meeting he mentioned that “The world cannot, perhaps, go back to the pre-industrial age of carbon emission but it can surely contain a further surge in global warming. We can at least freeze the emission of greenhouse gases at an acceptable level. But this will require urgent collective actions. And it'll require the large industrialised economies - the historical polluters - to cut back their emissions."

Foreign Adviser of Bangladesh Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, SAARC Secretary General Sheel Kant Sharma and secretary to environment ministry of Bangladesh AHM Rezaul Karim also spoke at the function. Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for environment and forest ministry Raja Debashish Roy chaired the inaugural session.

Environment ministers from eight SAARC member countries--Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Maldives and Sri Lanka--and other delegates are participating in the Ministerial Meeting.

Meanwhile the long awaited dialogue between the government and AL, one of the major political parties of Bangladesh, has failed to reach any consensus. But both the parties wish to sit together again to resolve the demands raised by AL. Government advisor Hossain Zillur Rahman said to the press that from government side one of the main issues was placed to the AL representative that can bring qualitative changes in politics.

However they did not have sufficient time to discuss the issue, the advisor mentioned. AL acting General Secretary Syed Ashraful Islam informed the press that it is their belief that dialogue is an ongoing process, Thursday’s dialogue is not the last one and still they have many things to discuss, AL Acting GS added.

On the other hand Acting Secretary General of Khaleda loyalist BNP Khandhaker Delower Hossain said that his party has no intention to participate in the local government election, which is scheduled for the next month and the last day of filing candidature has already ended on 3rd July. BNP will take action against its members who participate in the local government election. Mr. Delower further said.

The information came out from the locality determined for holding local body election said that some 71 candidates for mayoral posts, 472 for councilors and 125 for reserved seats for women submitted nominations to returning officers. Analysts said that this statistics showed that people and political activists related to all major political parties are enthusiastic about the elections. Parties including AL and BNP are also intending to participate in the election process on some conditions. Main conditions of the politicians are unconditional release of their party heads and immediate withdrawal of the State Of Emergency. Present position of the political parties is a strategy to press the government to meet up their demands.

As BNP is not yet in the track of dialogue and election, the authorities are also a bit tough about them, the analysts added. New legal process against Khaleda Zia may be an extra pressure for being positive about the election process, the Analysts further mentioned.

But the authority said that it is a regular action against the corruption. With all limitations, government and the politicians should make the election process a success because enthusiastic political workers and the people will press them to do so, the Analysts cited.

AL president Sheikh Hasina, who is in parole for medical treatment in North America, told that there will be no corruption in Bangladesh when the country will be Democratic. She hoped that Bangladesh will enjoy Democracy very soon. She urged non-residents to contribute in making Bangladesh prosperous. Her speech was very positive regarding the process going on in the country, the Analysts observed.

Bangladesh is a developing country struggling to be a Middle-Income nation. SAARC is the only forum of this region which can stand alongside the struggling nation in any international competition and negotiation. As a matter of fact, democratic governance makes any nation more acceptable to regional and international community. If the people of Bangladesh dream a corruption free democratic Bangladesh, it is the responsibility of present interim government and the politicians to make the dream come true.