None other than politicians and

Former adviser to the caretaker government Sultana Kamal on Friday highlighted the role of politicians and the media in making democracy sustainable. Addressing a roundtable discussion on the role of mass media in establishing a sustainable democracy, Sultana Kamal, also a leading human rights campaigner, observed that although the politicians had failed to fulfill the people’s hopes and aspirations, there is no denying that only they [politicians] and the mass media could make democracy work. Dhaka Union of Journalists organised the roundtable at the National Press Club VIP lounge with its president Shah Alamgir in the chair while president of Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul moderated it. Columnist and environmental campaigner Syed Abul Maksud presented the keynote paper. Former Jatiya Sangsad speaker and Awami League lawmaker Abdul Hamid, Bangladesh Nationalist Party joint secretary general Nazrul Islam Khan, director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Golam Dastagir Gazi, former president of Dhaka University Teachers Association AAMS Arefin Siddique, Bhorer Kagaj editor Shyamal Datta, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha chief editor Jaglul Ahmed Chowdhury, journalists Habibur Rahman Milon, Abdul Jalil, Altaf Mahmud and Shahjahan Miah addressed the roundtable. ‘It is not wise to assume that the media should play only an anti-government role…the media can also guide the government and the opposition as well by positive and objective reporting’, Sultana Kamal said. She hoped that the mass media would enjoy freedom in discharging its responsibilities in restoring democracy. Nazrul Islam Khan said that the present government had failed to make any qualitative changes in the socio-economic field since the changeover in January, 2007. ‘I do not understand why a section is repeatedly saying that the country should not return to the situation before the changeover of January 11, 2007,’ the BNP leader said, adding, ‘Political stability is a must for investment.’ Former speaker of parliament Abdul Hamid said that politicians had also played a major role in inviting the January 11, 2007 changeover. ‘During the political governments the people witnessed not only corruption but wholesale plunder of national wealth which made the January 11, 2007 changeover inevitable’, he said, adding, ‘After assuming power, every political party should remember that they are representing all sections of the people and thus they should work for the welfare of the people.’ He was critical of setting up courts on the parliament complex and attempt to allocate NAM flats to government employees. ‘The parliament complex is only for the people’s representatives while the NAM flats are for accommodation of elected lawmakers…, he said. In the keynote paper, Maksud said that the media had played a commendable role during the war of liberation in 1971 and also before the formation of one-party BKSAL and during the mass upsurge in 1990 but it did not play its due role after the January 11, 2007 changeover. ‘A vested quarter with the blessings of the west played a vital role in pushing the situation towards the January 11, 2007 changeover… The media should raise questions about their role and newspapers should publish at least a joint editorial regarding it’, he said.