‘Entire system has become one of occupation’

BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir yesterday cited rampant corruption as one of the main reasons behind the country's political crisis.

"The entire state system has become one of occupation," he said during a seminar at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.

Fakhrul alleged that bureaucrats are controlling everything. He said in some cases even the advisers have become helpless.

"A teacher from a small town has to come to Dhaka to solve a problem, which should not have been necessary. The system is responsible for this. If the teacher from the small town does not come to the capital, then where will the bribe come from?" he said.

He also alleged that university teachers are recruited through bribes, school teachers are recruited through bribes, and nurses are also recruited through bribes.

It is impossible to expect a functional democracy and just society without restructuring the existing state system, which, he said, fosters inequalities and corruption.

He also said inequalities, rooted in Bangladesh's state structure for decades, cannot be eradicated overnight, though structural reforms are essential.

"Instant solutions to long-standing issues of injustice, corruption, authoritarianism and structural discrimination cannot be expected," he said.

Fakhrul said reforms of the state framework and the electoral process are still at a preliminary stage. He said the recent mass uprising has opened a new opportunity for change, but cautioned that sustainable reforms require well-defined planning, political sincerity and structural change.

The seminar, titled "How Well is Social Protection Secured", was organised by Arpon Alok Songho. Senior journalist Sohrab Hassan, Ganosamhati Andolon's Chief Coordinator Zonayed Saki, Nationalist Democratic Movement (NDM) Chairman Bobby Hajjaj, former BNP MP Rehana Akter Ranu and Policy Exchange Chairman M Masrur Reaz spoke at the event as special guests.