TUI RAZAKAR: তুই রাজাকার

Compiled by : Habib

Fundamentalists have made the National Women Development Policy 2008 an issue in a bid to suppress the public demand for trial of war criminals, participants at a roundtable yesterday said.

They also criticised the interim government for their silence on the street programmes fundamental groups carried out against the government’s woman policy, clearly violating the state of emergency.

Political leaders, NGO activists, women leaders and present and former advisers took part in the discussion on “Women in politics: in party, parliament and government”, organised by Bangladesh Mohila Parishad and Saptahik 2000 magazine at the National Press Club.

Mohila Parishad president Ayesha Khanam moderated the discussion while Kazi Sufia Akhter presented the keynote paper.

Rasheda K Chowdhury, women and children affairs adviser to the government, said fundamentalism is spreading alarmingly in the society and it is hard to imagine how far it would go in the future if proper attention is not given to the issues of education, culture and woman’s empowerment.

Stressing the need for consensus on women’s issues, she said women’s advancement is not possible if the mainstream progressive forces do not get united.

The adviser called on politicians to create a friendly atmosphere for women so that they could come to leadership level.

Taking part in the discussion, Awami League (AL) presidium member Tofail Ahmed said while sector commanders of the liberation war were not allowed to hold their national convention in a hall room, the government is silent on the processions that fundamentalist groups brought out in the street in opposition to the woman policy.

“It’ll not be good if people raise questions on the present government’s neutrality when it comes to fundamentalism,” he warned.

Abdur Razzak, another AL presidium member, said religious issues are brought to the forefront whenever women’s issues get prominence. “The fundamentalists violated the state of emergency but no action has been taken against them,” he said.

Linking women’s development to the progress of the country, BNP Vice president Osman Farruk said they should be included in the development process but no governments took steps in this regard.

Former adviser Sultana Kamal said women have shied away from partisan politics, not from politics itself.

She stressed that fundamentalist groups are using the woman policy in a bid to divert attention from the demand for the trial of war criminals.

“It is a shame for the progressive-minded people to see how the law adviser made apologies to the fundamentalists,” she added.

Workers Party President Rashed Khan Menon said though women have always distanced their movement from politics, their issues should be treated as political agenda.

Emphasising the need for a change in political culture, joint secretary general of the BNP, Selima Rahman, said women’s participation in politics should be ensured to make the nation democratic and self-confident.

“Political parties don’t consider women when it comes to nominating candidates for elections even though they give the party ticket to a housewife if her lawmaker husband dies,” she said, adding the BNP has no woman on its standing committee except for the chairperson.

Dr Dipu Moni, women affairs secretary of the Awami League said, the government has to decide whether they favour woman or the fundamentalists.

Among others, Mahfuza Akhter, Maleka Banu, Samia Zaman, Hazera Sultana, Mahbub Alam, Farah Kabir, Shirin Akhter and acting editor of Weekly 2000 Moinul Ahsan Saber participated in the discussion.

source : The Daily Star, 20 march 2008