THE European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday gave the call for dialogue between democratic parties in Bangladesh to reach a political consensus to end the present political crisis. In EP’s view limiting of political space for expressing dissent and the one-party domination shattering hard-earned democratic values are resulting into the rise of extremism in the country. The debate on Bangladesh expressed grave concern over the country’s deteriorating political situation.
Its concern comes at a time when the spate of secret killing of bloggers, professors, publishers and people of minority community is rising overnight and Bangladesh Prime Minister is blaming opposition BNP-Jamaat men for the crimes but at the same proving not to know how to make life safe in Bangladesh.
To know who are responsible for such dangerous crimes, BNP and Jamaat members are also punished, yet the crimes are growing. That should be evident enough that wrong ones are not punished and the government has no competence to deal with militancy and that there is something seriously wrong for the people to find safety in life.
The EP members have rightly pointed out that the rise of violent extremism and shrinking of political space are closely related. The denial of freedom of speech and such other opportunities is creating fertile ground for extremism to grow. In this background the EP members’ suggestion that Bangladesh leadership may look for a ‘new social and political consensus’ makes sense but the question is who will broker the consensus and make the government ready to be on board such consensus.
We do not have political leadership for believing in democratic consensus. They understand consensus for sharing power and not practicing democracy. We had to emphasise the working of democratic institutions, only then the European Union will be right in expecting good governance. It is the European Union that allowed elections in Bangladesh as democracy.
This is not the first time the EU made the suggestions and emphasized the need for resolution of political crisis in Bangladesh. Many of us also suggest that we should be able to solve the political crisis of power struggle that does not care for democratic institutions. The present critical situation is not all our creation. Our friends abroad also contributed taking advantage of leadership vacuum.
When the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in his concluding remarks said the EP would continue to follow Bangladesh closely and would address their concerns through regular dialogue but we know mere dialogue will not be enough. The job has to be done to ensure good governance.
