Jamaat in poll-bound Bangladesh promises women in cabinet, youth at the helm

 

Jamaat in poll-bound Bangladesg promises women in cabinet, youth at the helm in election manifesto. 

 It also lays out 26 priorities including governance reform and merit-based recruitment. 

The 90-page manifesto outlines 26 priority areas, which include an uncompromising Bangladesh in the national interest; building a humane country based on justice; empowerment of youth; building a safe, dignified and participatory state for women; overall improvement of law and order and establishment of a corruption-free state.

It promised merit-based recruitment; bringing perpetrators of extrajudicial killings to justice and ensuring fundamental human rights. It is generally believed that a prominent anti-India nation, that is Pakistan is backing Jamaat in order to corner New Delhi in geo politic in the longer term.

On the other hand; the BNP said it will build a state founded on equality, knowledge and respect for labour, priotising the people above power and merit over privilege. The party chairman Tarique Rahman's wife Dr Zubaida Rahman said on Feb 4. 

We say ‘we’ before ‘me’, 'the country' before 'us', 'the people' before 'power', and Bangladesh on top of everything and equality over division,” she said at a views-exchange meeting organised by the BNP Election Steering Committee. 

Equal opportunities for all, respect for labour, and valuing merit through merit-based jobs -- this is how we want to present a society and a state where the people come first, she said, according to Dhaka-based 'Daily Star'. 

If elected, the party also plans to create more jobs for women, improve safety in public transport, and expand access to maternal and neonatal healthcare.

Senior BNP leaders said the commitments are part of the party’s election manifesto and its 31-point reform outline, which places women’s empowerment at the centre of governance and development.

According to Bangladesh Election Commission data, of the total 12,76,95,183 voters, 6,28,79,042 are women.

Bangladesh elections have own contradictions. 

There is little doubt that nefarious actors exist—at both local and national levels—within both major party blocs, as well as within the administration and the security forces, who, if given the opportunity, may seek to tilt the electoral process in favour of one side or the other. 

While the government insists that this will be the cleanest election in the country’s history, it remains uncertain whether sufficient safeguards and scrutiny are in place—within the Election Commission, among observers, or in the media—to prevent rigging. Ultimately, this is something that can only be judged on the day itself and in subsequent reporting. That said, it seems likely that any manipulation, should it occur, will be relatively limited in scope, said an opinion piece in newspaper Daily Star penned by Bangladesh watcher David Bergman.

He also says : 

The next elected government will have a crucial role to play. It must move away from some of the most damaging practices of the interim period, including the banning of Awami League’s party activities and the use of mass arrests and prolonged detention of its members without evidence. 

Only prosecutions supported by credible and sufficient evidence should proceed; all those currently detained without such evidence should be released. 

Bangladesh army is 'acting shy' 

Ends