The present military backed caretaker government of Bangladesh has banned all political activities since the state of emergency was proclaimed on 11 January 2007, which supplemented the Emergency Powers Ordinance-2007 and the Emergency Powers Rules-2007. This ban was partially lifted by the government in a gazetted notification, which came out as an amendment of the Emergency Powers Rules-2007 that was published on 9 September.
The amendment allows political discussions specifically on the internal political affairs of the concerned parties, and the issues of the national parliamentary election. Only 50 members of the concerned parties are allowed in a closed door meeting in Dhaka and the media can broadcast the news in regular bulletins. However, they are restricted from airing the live proceedings.
An unofficial translation of the amendment is available below (as the authorities have not published an English version):
The government, according to the power given in sub-rule (1) of rule-3, has relaxed the prohibition on organising meetings by any political parties, on the following conditions, that are:
(A) The meetings of the political parties can be held in the jurisdiction of the Dhaka metropolitan area;
(B) The decisions of holding meetings of any political parties must be informed to the commissioner of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police 24 hours prior to the scheduled time;
(C) Not more than 50 members of the concerned political party will be allowed to participate in the meeting;
(D) In case of participation of more than 50 persons in any meeting, permission must be taken from the Ministry of Home Affairs before, at least, 48 hours of the scheduled meeting;
(E) The meetings shall be arranged in a homely environment inside the central office, or in residence of any member of the concerned party, community centre, hotel or restaurant situated in the Dhaka metropolitan area;
(F) Any of such meeting cannot be organised in an open place or under any temporary shelter in an open place;
(G) Only the issues relating the partys organisational affairs and the national parliamentary election can be discussed and decided, and no other issues beyond these can be discussed and decided;
(H) No person other than the members of the political parties can participate in the meeting;
(I) The workers of the media will be remain present only for the purpose of collecting news;
(J) The proceedings of the meeting cannot be broadcast or telecast live by the electronic media, but the news or video footage can be broadcast as part of the regular bulletin;
(K) Usage of any kind of loud speakers, which the sound of the discussions and proceedings of the meetings can be heard by the general public outside the meeting, cannot be applied in the meetings.
Explanation: Political party, for the purpose of this notification, includes any of the faction [of the political parties].
The present military backed government, which has been propagating a reformation in the democratic practices relating to the political activities in the country, made the above mentioned amendment following consistent pressure from the Election Commission and the political parties that were supposed to hold meetings between each other regarding the overdue general elections. There has also been local and international pressure against the heavy repression on the restrictions on political participation in the recent months.
However, in this amendment the government has first of all deprived the majority of the population of participating in political discussions by limiting the number of the participants to 50. Secondly, the political discussions are confined to the capital, thereby leaving any other part of the country and the rest of the population beyond any scope of participating in the discussions.
By stipulating the number of the participants the government neglects and denies the basic norms of any kind of reformation that democracy itself requires views from all walks of society. And without the participation of the respective communities in various localities there cannot be any democracy, let alone any kind of reformation of the said institutions or political parties. On the other hand, representation of a particular urban area does not reflect the views of the citizens living in the country and who do not have the capacity or convenience of residing in the capital. This is another limitation which is a fundamental contradiction of the concept of democracy. It appears to be nothing less than a deliberate authoritarian approach of the military-backed government.
This approach is a clear violation of the standards and norms of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which Bangladesh is a state party to.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) urges the Bangladesh government to lift the state of emergency completely regardless of any kind of ban on the political discussions with any kind of discrimination to the citizens. Without equal participation of the common citizens there will be no reformation possible to strengthen the democracy of the country.
