They called for inviting the civil society members in the meetings of parliamentary standing committees in this regard and said parliamentary democracy can be benefited from the suggestions and guidelines from them.

The daylong seminar titled 'Parliamentary Committees and the Civil Society in Bangladesh', organised by the Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy (SPD) Project of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Parliament of Bangladesh, was held at Hotel Agrabad yesterday.

Former minister LK Siddiqui MP was present as chief guest in the inaugural session, chaired by whip of the Jaitya Sangsad Syed Wahidul Alam MP. Project Implementation Specialist of the SPD Professor ATM Obaidullah delivered address of welcome.

Two keynote papers were presented in the plenary session. Professor Muhammad Yeahia Akhtar of the Department of Political Science, Chittagong University, read out his paper on 'Relations between Parliamentary Committees and the Civil Society in Bangladesh' and Omar Kaiser, Chittagong bureau chief of the daily Bhorer Kagoj presented another paper on 'Parliamentary Committees in Bangladesh and the Civil Society'.

Professor Yeahia in his paper raised question about the competence of the members of Parliamentary Standing Committees and lack of professionalism in them.

“There is no alternative to strengthening the JS to make parliamentary democracy meaningful and to achieve this goal a stronger parliamentary standing committee system is badly needed," he said.

He said low literacy rate, lack of democratic practices in political parties and ill political interest in the process of nomination have attributed the unwanted access of incompetent and dishonest people in the parliament.

Professor Yeahia made some suggestions to have a strong parliament as well as effective standing committees.

He urged the political parties not to award nominations to the uneducated, dishonest industrialists, smugglers and owners of black money during the parliament elections saying "If we can ensure selection of honest person then I believe the parliamentary democracy and the standing committees will be further strengthened".

Journalist Omar Kaiser in his paper said the civil society could also play a role in bringing a positive change in the society.

Citing some examples in Chittagong-perspective, he said, "The members of civil society here in the port city has in recent time raise their voice for issues like Chittagong port, court building, Chaktai Khal, Karnaphuli Third Bridge and ship breaking yards."

He emphasised the need for greater interaction between the civil society and parliamentary standing committees for the benefit of the country as a whole.

Professor Mahbub Ullah, Professor Shams Uddin, Professor Rashida Khanam, Professor Abdur Noor, Professor Badiul Alam, Dr Abul Kalam Azad and Professor Ali Imdad of Chittagong University, Jamaat-e-Islami leaders AJM Obaildullah and Mohammad Tarek and registrar of Maa O Shishu Hospital Syed Murshed Hossain discussed on the topics.

Mosharraf Hossain MP, chairman of standing committee on the ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) affairs, and Shahjahan Chowdhury, chairman of standing committee on the ministry of housing and public works, replied the queries and allegations made by several speakers.