Law Event
Dissemination seminar on rule of law
There was no rule of law in Bangladesh since independence, said Justice Naimuddin Ahmed as he was speaking as chief guest in a dissemination seminar organised by Society of Justice in Dhaka September 28, 2005. He said the newborn country violated the rights of the stranded Pakistani troupe according to Geneva Convention. Since then successive regimes violated rights of the people at their will. While talking about equal property right for male and female, we have to be cautious. It is easy to make comments but very difficult to make attempts to change Shariah law, he mentioned. If you conduct a survey asking even the female that to ensure your right we have to deny the verses of the Holy Quran, more then 80 percent will give opinion against it. Religious belief and civil law are two different things, he said. Presided over by Professor Dr Mizanur Rahman, the president of Society of Justice, the seminar was attended by academics, researcher, human and women right activists, and donor representative including British High Commission, Australian High Commission, Asia Foundation, GTZ etc. In he seminar reports of workshops and interactive dialogue with different stakeholders, organised by Society of Justice were presented.
Dr Mizanur Rahman said the people of Bangladesh are living in severe insecurity. They have lost faith on state. They do not want security from state rather like to get rid of insecurity. Deputy High Commissioner of Australian High Commission Mr Richard Rodgers stressed the need for more empirical research on the issues and more proactive role from civil society. Kim McQuay, the representative of Asia Foundation from his experience in judicial reform in Indonesia said that civil society organisation could play very important role in the reform process. Empirical findings as presented here are the sources for useful insights in proposing reform that people want. Dr Sanaul Mostafa in his speech said that people want local solution of the problem because they got fear to talk about the lawlessness. Among others Ms Taleya Rehman of Democracy Watch, Ms Taj Peara Begum, Gender Training Specialist of UNDP Gender Mainstreaming Project, Barrister Sadia Arman, Advocate Mahbubul Islam, Secretary General of Society of Justice spoke in the seminar.
