They said there are some articles in the constitution which are not democratic resulting centralisation of power at the top.

Organised by the Centre for Alternative (CA) in collaboration with Delhi-based Lokniti, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, the two-day conference on 'The State of Democracy in South Asia: Indexing Bangladesh Democracy," was held at the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

Prof. Syed Anwar Hossain said democracy cannot be functional in Bangladesh as some of the articles of the constitution is undemocratic.

"If we don't have a political culture, we can't have functional democracy", he added.

FBCCI President Abdul Awal Mintoo said nothing was done for the welfare of the people through fourth to 11th amendments to the constitution. Instead, these were made to protect the interests and illegal activities of particular individuals, he added.

Mintoo said everything was controlled from the prime minister's office during the last 12 years. Amendment to the constitution is needed to decentralise the power, he added.

The speakers said the political parties in the country could not establish democracy as they themselves do not practice it within their parties.

The conference was a part of the research programme titled " The State of Democracy in South Asia," undertaken by Lokniti in collaboration with the CA and other institutions from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

The study will specifically focus on the four domains including state institutions, electoral systems, party politics and civil societies.

Peter d' Souza and Suhas Palshikar of Lokniti presented pros and cons of the study programme on the state of democracy in South Asia.

Eminent economist Prof. Mozaffar Ahmed, CA Executive Director Prof. Imtiaz Ahmed, Dr. Binayak Sen and Dr. Hossain Jillur Rahman of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies and Waliur Rahman of Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs also spoke.