They also said it is high time that the conscious and law-abiding people came forward and joined hands to rescue the country from the brink of destruction.

The roundtable titled 'Is Good Governance Practicable in Bangladesh?' was organised by Development Studies Group of Independent University of Bangladesh (IUB) at IDB Bhaban in the city.

Presenting a keynote paper, Barrister Manzoor Hasan, director of Centre for Governance Studies of Brac University, said Bangladesh has made tremendous achievements in some social indicators in the last 15 years, but the feeling among the populace is rather negative due to bad politics.

He also identified some factors that hinder good governance such as permeation of partisan politics at all spheres of public life and weaknesses of formal accountability mechanisms.

Brig Gen (Retd) M Shakawat Hossain said politicisation not only touches the bureaucrats but also the bureaucratic system and even the armed forces.

"We need to empower our people as they are the main driving forces and that can be done by decentralisation", he said.

Presenting a directional paper, Prof Bazlur Mobin Chowdhury, vice chancellor of IUB, said the present political crisis is not merely a crisis of holding a free and fair election, but also a reflection of the crisis for governance and also making the democratic institutions dysfunctional.

He also said since 1972, the democratic and state institutions have systematically gone through politicisation resulting in rise of partisan bureaucrats and civil servants who serve political parties rather than state and people.

He proposed to strengthen the five key institutions namely Election Commission (EC), Public Service Commission (PSC), Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), University Grant Commission (UGC) and appointment of diplomats.

Prof Omar Rahman, pro-vice chancellor of IUB, and other IUB teachers also spoke on the occasion.