People have right to know about outcomes of meetings with foreigners: Sultana Kamal

People have every right to know the outcome of meetings or talks between the country's political parties and foreigners, said Sultana Kamal, a noted human rights activist and the chairperson of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB).

"It is the political party's responsibility to let the people know what they discussed with foreigners in public interest," she said at a roundtable titled "Politics overtly-covertly", organised by The Editors Guild at Dhaka Gallery in the capital on Saturday.

Sultana Kamal said nothing is beyond geopolitics. Business, natural resources and regional influence — these are all elements of geopolitical interests. In the last 50 to 52 years, Bangladesh has reached a height and that is why the world community is interested in the country's politics and other issues. 

"The politicians do not deem the countrymen politically aware. Politics is now centring around how to grab a chair or a seat [a position of power]. Did the ruling party fulfil their election mandates? They did not, and I would be happy if they could prove me wrong on that," she added.

Editor of Bangla daily Bangladesh Partidin Naeem Nizam, senior politician Fahmida Khatun, former bureaucrat Abu Alam Shahid Khan, and Dhaka University professor S M Shamim Reza, eminent historian and Professor of Dhaka University Dr Muntasir Mamun, economist and Director of Policy Research Institute Ahsan H Mansur, among others, were present at the event.

Addressing the roundtable, Professor Dr Muntasir Mamun said, "Why is the US visa policy now being discussed heavily? Why should we pay attention to it? When the prime minister [Sheikh Hasina] said the next parliamentary election would be good [free and fair] – that means the previous elections were not good.

"The ruling Awami League did not pay any heed to strengthen its own party other than focusing on financial gain in the last decade." 

Ahsan H Mansur, economist and director of the Policy Research Institute, said, "Most foreign airline companies are shutting down their services here due to non-payment. For billing, they are counting the exchange rate as Tk140 per dollar now as uncertainty appears regarding payments. Because of that, we have to pay two to three times more than the neighbouring countries for airfare." 

He added, "The foreign exchange reserve is now standing at around $20 billion. Our reserve is getting smaller against a long list of payments for fuel and other imports. If the reserve falls below $15 billion, the consequence would be dire."  

Zahirul Alam, head of news of NTV, said, "We are frustrated with most of the social, economic, cultural and political indicators. We have to admit that these are not running well. We are getting some megastructures that we appreciate but the Liberation War spirit did not mandate us to establish a country without freedom of speech and human rights."