Speakers at a geopolitical conference in Dhaka city said on Sunday that crisis and fragility were being used as a tool to stay in power.
They said that people in such a situation became accustomed to living in a 鈥榮tate of uncertainty as though it were the new standard of stability鈥�.
Speaking at a plenary session on 鈥楩ragility as the new normal: states in permanent emergency鈥� of the three-day Bay of Bengal Conversation 2025, they said that fragility ceased to be a mere issue and itself became the system in a reality when the exception became the rule.
Mentioning that it was his personal opinion, chief adviser鈥檚 special assistant Ali Riaz said that governments in these states were producing instability to cling to power.
He referred to the recent popular uprisings in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal that overturned the regimes in the South Asia while saying that economic disparity was one of the main reasons behind the uprisings.
He said that the global economic calculus had not changed and crises were emanating from the global system.
Responding to a question about the law and order preparedness for the coming national elections in Bangladesh, he said that the police had been politicised in the 16-year authoritarian regime of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina and now it was very weak.
He, however, underlined the need for redefining the maintenance of law and order ahead of the elections.
Ambassador of Kosovo to Bangladesh Lulzim Pllana said that trust in democratic process had weakened in many places.聽
He said that fragility became the system of the day.
In his special address, former president of Serbia Boris Tadi膰 said that Bangladesh鈥檚 next election would be crucial for its democratic future, underscoring the high importance of the country鈥檚 geostrategic location.
Non-government think-tank Centre for Governance Studies organises the fourth Bay of Bengal Conversation attended by around 1,000 participants, including politicians, researchers, diplomats, and journalists, from home and abroad.
The event will conclude today.聽
Ali Riaz, who also led the recent Constitution Reform Commission formed by the interim government, said that governments to perpetuate power in many cases were using 鈥榩erpetual emergency鈥�, causing the state-sanctioned emergency to curtail freedom.
He said that they were witnessing 鈥榙e-demcoratisation鈥� where ruling elites were using state apparatus.
UNDP Bangladesh country economic adviser Owais Parray explained the economic and technological aspects of the fragility of a state, calling for enhancing the state capability.聽
Describing the post-uprising situation in Bangladesh, Democracy International鈥檚 chief of party Catherine Cecil said that women activists in particular faced smear campaigns.
She expressed concerns over attacks on the Hindus after the July uprising that ousted the regime of Sheikh Hasina on August 5, 2025.
CGS international adviser Clay Wescott also spoke at the session moderated by the Asia Foundation country representative Kazi Faisal Bin Seraj.
Around 200 speakers from 85 countries have joined the conference inaugurated by chief justice Syed Refaat Ahmed on Saturday at a city hotel with its president Zillur Rahman in chair.