THE British High Commissioner Ms Alison Blake in her first press conference in Dhaka on Thursday has laid emphasis like her predecessor on free, fair and inclusive elections to flourish democracy in the country and offered all cooperation of her government in this regard. The first female British envoy to Bangladesh in her initial impression on the country’s politics made no secret that ‘in January 5, 2014 parliamentary elections majority of the people was deprived of exercising their franchise’ and hoped ‘future elections at all-levels will be participatory, fair and transparent.’
We know she has rightly said there is no alternative to sustainable democracy to achieve sustainable development. Our people struggle hard and long for securing democracy. The main goal of the liberation war was democracy. But as ill-luck will have it, free Bangladesh has proved not free for democracy. The outsiders have taken full advantage of the void in our leadership. The painful truth is that we have lost our voting right to be taken us seriously. Global politics and global interest counts more than the importance of political stability, peace and security of a country.
She reminded us that the UK had concerns over the January 5 elections. The fake election has emboldened everybody to get elected without free and fair election. Where journalists and lawyers are encouraged to give up their professional independence to become party activists, there can’t be a civil society strong enough to fight for and protect democracy.
In fact, what the British envoy has said is nothing new than what the envoys and leaders of other western democratic nations have earlier said and whenever the opportunity comes talk of democracy however forgetting how best to help us. Even India is also not showing interest for us to have a functioning democracy.
Our people know what democracy is and its importance for good governance and the rule of law. But what we do not understand is how our people who gave lives for democracy could become so helpless.
