OTTAWA, Ontario, November 23, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
A team from the Parliament of Canada visited Bangladesh from 11th - 15th November 2013 to assess the evolving political, social and economic situation in the run-up to the general elections due to take place there shortly. The delegation was led by Canadian Parliamentarians Mr. Russel Hiebert and Mr. Joe Daniel.
The timing of the team was significant given the continuing street violence engineered by the fundamentalist Jamaat e Islami and the disruption of the economy and social activity resulting from the incessant strikes called by the Bangladesh National Party and its allies.
The delegation met a cross-section of political opinion and interacted with media representatives and social activists. Their interlocutors uniformly expressed unhappiness with the current political standoff and the repercussions of the strikes on Bangladesh's economy, particularly the livelihoods of the poor people.
The issue of the International War Crimes Tribunal investigating the genocide of 1971 also figured in the discussions. The members were briefed by advocates from the International Crimes Tribunal about the testimony given by the survivors of the genocide and the families of victims on the basis of which the Tribunal had sentenced senior leaders of the Jamaat e Islami to punishment. The delegation members agreed that justice demanded that guilty persons who had managed to evade capture by fleeing to other countries should be returned to Bangladesh to face punishment. They were full of praise for the determination with which the Tribunal was working to close the final chapter of the gory events of 1971. The recent attacks by the Jamaat e Islami against members of the minority communities, in protest against the Tribunal's verdicts, were condemned by the members of the delegation who called for the rights of all minority groups to be protected.
In their interaction with representatives of women's groups the members emphasized the imperative need to empower women to play a more significant role in politics and in other fields of national activity. They endorsed the argument made by the women's representatives that without political empowerment the economic wellbeing of women could not be ensured.A member of the delegation cited the example of Canada where women were well represented in corporate boardrooms.
Wishing the people of Bangladesh well for the future, the delegation members expressed the hope that the current situation would soon end and the general elections would be free and fair. They assured their interlocutors about their support for the democratic process in Bangladesh and lauded the efforts of the people of Bangladesh to ensure development, growth and progress in an assured environment of peace, law and order, and tolerance and freedom. The delegation expressed the hope that future generations of Bangladesh would never again have to witness the depredation that rampant religious fundamentalism could cause.
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