Bangladesh scraps caretaker government system for polls

DPA/Dhaka

Members of the Communist Party of Bangladesh along with seven left-leaning parties break through police barricades as they march towards parliament in Dhaka yesterday. The march was declared to protest some provisions of the Constitution Amendment Bill that they claimed run contrary to the original constitution of 1972

Bangladesh parliament yesterday approved proposals for constitutional amendments scrapping the non-party caretaker government system that oversaw general elections, while retaining Islam as the state religion.“These amendments will help establish Bangladesh’s liberation war spirit” and help democracy flourish, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament after passage of the Constitution (15th Amendment) Bill 2011.From now on, she said, national elections will be conducted by the elected representatives as practiced in other democratic countries instead of being run by non-elected rulers who had held three national polls under the non-party caretaker government system introduced in 1996.The proposals were approved by 291 deputies in the 345-strong parliament amid a boycott by the mainstream opposition parties, which have been planning for “tougher” anti-government actions to protest against the bill, especially scrapping of caretaker government provision.Hasina called on the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led opposition alliance not to create anarchy in the name of street protests. “If you have any formula, come over and place them in parliament for discussion, we can resolve the matters at any time,” she said.She added that Islam was retained as the state religion but the rights of other faiths were also ensured to give Bangladesh a secular character.The Awami League-led coalition government restored two of four basic principles - socialism and secularism - which were abolished by the military dictators after the assassination of Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in August 1975.Democracy and nationalism are the other basic principles.Residents living in Bangladeshi territory will be recognised as Bengali, but they will be called Bangladeshis for citizenship purposes, under the latest change.Extra-constitutional takeover of state power was declared to be a seditious offence while collaborators and supporters would also be tried under the same offence.A country vulnerable to weather extremes, the amendments call for protection of the environment and bio-diversity.It also guaranteed women’s equal-opportunity participation in all levels of society, raised the number of women lawmakers in parliament to 50 from 45 previously, and guaranteed the protection of the culture and heritage of all tribal and ethnic minority groups.Use of Bangladesh territory against its people and other countries for militant purposes and abuse of religion for political purposes were also banned under the amendments.