5-year cycle of political violence must end

The visiting junior British minister for international development has said that political parties have the "responsibility" to hold a free, fair and accountable election for the betterment of the people, reports bdnews4.com.

Lynne Featherstone was replying a question at a press briefing Tuesday before leaving Dhaka at the end of her first visit.

Featherstone said she was not here to talk about politics but what she felt was that it was the duty of the politicians to break the five-year cycle of political violence in Bangladesh, referring to the election time violence.

But reporters at the briefing raised the issue of the Jan 5 elections that the UK found "constitutionally correct" but was disappointed as half of the seats returned uncontested due to a major opposition BNP boycott.

"Political parties are responsible to the people of Bangladesh and it is for the betterment of Bangladeshis that political parties need to get together," she said highlighting the need of dialogue.

She said it was understandable that it was a challenge before the Jan 5 elections for the political parties to engage.

But she said this becomes increasingly important with passing time.

"They are responsible to you. They have duty to you to find a way through and to make sure the five-year cycle (of violence) does not happen and the elections seem to be free, fair and accountable".

As the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for international development, she is mostly responsible for women and girls' issues. She came to Dhaka for a follow-up initiative to the Girls' Summit held in London this July. She spoke at the first Girls' Summit Dhaka held Monday and visited a slum in Mirpur to see how women were being empowered under a UK-funded project to end violence against them.