Politicians at a dialogue hosted by the Centre for Governance Studies on Thursday highlighted the need for reforms within the political parties to accommodate youths and women in inclusive democracy.
They expressed their frustration over the National Consensus Commission鈥檚 dialogue sessions where several politicians expressed their indifference to increasing reserved parliamentary seats for women.聽
In partnership with the embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the centre held the dialogue at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies auditorium in Dhaka.
Zahir Uddin Swapon, adviser to the chair of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, stressed inclusive mindsets and politics while observing that political turmoil in several countries, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, proved that the conventional political process was not accepting the potential of youths.
Joris van Bommel, the Netherlands ambassador to Bangladesh, emphasised on 鈥榠nclusivity鈥� and 鈥榙ialogue鈥�, explaining that true inclusivity required understanding why youths were not fully engaged in political processes and addressing the bottlenecks that hindered their involvement.
Badiul Alam Majumder, one of the members of the National Consensus Commission, called for 100 parliamentary seats to be reserved for women under a rotational system, which he described as the most effective approach.
BNP assistant secretary for international affairs Fahima Nasrin Munni complained that women entering politics were often unfairly questioned about their capabilities.
She urged political parties to change this perspective by treating women as equal human beings.
Jatiya Party secretary general Shameem Haider Patwary observed that very few women or youths directly contested in the 300-strong parliamentary seats.
He recommended that all parliamentary seats should be contested directly, with the 100 allocated for women voted by both male and female voters.
National Citizen Party joint convener Khaled Saifullah said that the youth ousted the autocratic Awami League regime but now they were told to step aside from politics.
Amar Bangladesh Party joint general secretary Nasreen Sultana Mily regretted that derogatory remarks were often used against female politicians, who are victims of frequent cyber bullying.
She said that despite existing laws, enforcement against those attacking women remained weak.
With CGS president Zillur Rahman in the chair, the dialogue was also attended by Gono Forum acting president Subrata Chowdhury, Bangladesh Jatiya Samajtanrik Dal-Jasod general secretary Nazmul Haque Prodhan, Jamaat-e-Islami鈥檚 lawyers鈥� council in-charge Subikunnahar Munni, Islami Andolan Bangladesh鈥檚 central dawa and publicity secretary Sheikh Fajlul Karim Maruf, Gono Odhikar Parishad general secretary Md Rashed Khan, and DUCSU executive member Hema Chakma, among others.