Experts seek global support to Bangladesh’s fight against violence
City Desk :
Experts at an international webinar have described violence and misinformation as the two main barriers to Bangladesh’s ongoing socioeconomic development led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and sought wholehearted support from global friends to Bangladesh’s fight against violence and misinformation.
In the webinar held on November 6, they opined that sustainable democratic process as well as participatory and acceptable elections are only viable when the culprits of violence and disinformation are banished from the political process, urging the US policymakers not to make an Afghanistan-style spoil out of Bangladesh, reports BSS.
Pointing out Bangladesh’s rapid progress, especially in the big infrastructure sector, like the Padma Bridge, Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Karnaphuli Tunnel, Metro Rail and Dhaka Elevated Expressway, the panelists of the webinar have given full credit to continuation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led government for 15 years.
The webinar titled “Violence and Misinformation: Barriers to Economic Prosperity in Bangladesh” was presided over by Councilman, Freedom Fighter, and Prominent Writer Dr. Nurun Nabi, according to a press release from US-based Global Forum for Violence-Free Secular Democratic Bangladesh received here on Tuesday.
The five internationally recognized panelists who joined the event were: Professor Abdur Chowdhury, Professor ABM Nasir, Security Analyst Chris Blackburn, political analyst Seth Oldmixon, and senior researcher Dr. Mazharul Islam Rana.
The speakers simultaneously highlighted the significant progress of Bangladesh in expanding the social safety net by introducing the allowances for the valiant freedom fighters, elderly and disabled people, widows and the women abandoned by their husbands to bring millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty.
They also observed that Bangladesh could experience more progress if the Jamaat-BNP-led opposition would not commit anarchy and violence during the period.
In this context, the panelists referred to the 28th October BNP-Jamaat-sponsored anti-government rally in Dhaka, and said they unleashed mayhem in the capital by killing a policeman, torching and vandalizing several public and private vehicles and ambulances in the hospital, attacking the house of the Chief Justice, and injuring several journalists on the day Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Bangabandhu Tunnel, the first-ever underwater road tunnel in South Asia, in Chattogram.
About the demand of the BNP-Jamaat led political parties for a caretaker government in Bangladesh, the speakers wondered why did those parties asked for something unconstitutional?
They referred to the constitution and reminded that the elections should be held under the supervision of the Election Commission.
Professor Abdur Chowdhury mentioned that Goldman Sachs & Chase identified Bangladesh as one of the next top ten emerging economies of the world and this is amazing advancement coming from the war-ridden country in 1971.
