Bangladesh: Yunus govt slammed for halting progress of women

Dhaka, Aug 9 (IANS) Samina Lutfa, an Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology at the Dhaka University, on Saturday criticised the male-dominated decision-making process in Bangladesh, where men bargain over political participation of women, their roles, and seat allocations, quite "similar to a fish market".

Lutfa's observations came at a roundtable titled 'Women's seats in the National Parliament and women's political empowerment' organised by Bangladesh’s leading daily Prothom Alo in Dhaka, on Saturday.

"When political parties go to the commission meetings and speak, the picture I see is that it is a whole boys' club. All the men are sitting around here, and they are sitting there deciding the fate of women. We were getting news that if you want 15, I can give you 10. Is this bargaining in a fish market? Men are sitting and deciding how women will enter politics. Nothing could be more ridiculous than this," Prothom Alo quoted Lutfa as saying.

"If we consider it from the perspective of human rights, the parties have failed to understand it. I think the political parties of Bangladesh have never made a bigger historical mistake than this. At the same time, they all took a terrible conservative position and they will have to pay the responsibility and the cost for it," she added.

The academcian further commented that no discussions were held on the report of the Women's Affairs Mission and its proposals during the second round of dialogue of the National Consensus Commission, terming it as an incredibly irresponsible act.

"The government gave the Women's Commission the responsibility to do this work and they did that work. Then, during the terrible attack that was launched on them, the government, by remaining completely silent, has proven that they are not really with women. They are with those people who want to stop the movement of women, the progress of women," the professor said.

Meanwhile, A M M Nasir Uddin, the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Bangladesh, on Saturday said that the Election Commission (EC) is preparing to conduct the upcoming general election within a limited timeframe amid "several challenges".

He made the remarks while speaking at a views-exchange meeting on the national election at the Commission's Rangpur district regional office.

“Restoring public trust in the election system is now a major challenge. People have lost confidence in the system. Bringing them back to the polling centres will be a big task," Bangladeshi media outlet UNB quoted the CEC as saying.

"The election date will be disclosed two months before the schedule is announced," he added.

Earlier this week, several key political parties in Bangladesh voiced differences over the announcement made by Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus on the date for the general elections.

While the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has welcomed the decision to hold the elections before Ramadan, the National Citizen Party (NCP) has raised doubts over conducting a fair and acceptable election.

Bangladesh has been gripped by uncertainty over the next general elections since the democratically elected government of Awami League, led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was overthrown during violent protests last year.

The parties that collaborated with Yunus to remove Hasina are now at loggerheads over reform proposals and the timing of the next polls.

--IANS

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