"If there is free flow of information, there will be no corruption," Habibur said while speaking as the chief guest of a consultation meeting in Cirdap auditorium in the city.

"People's access to information is very important," he said demanding registration of all political parties in order to ensure their accountability.

South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) Bangladesh chapter organised the national consultation meeting titled "Right to Transparent Governance: Bangladesh Perspective" at the auditorium with assistance form Manusher Jonno.

Jurist Dr Kamal Hossain said questions should be raised why there still is a feudal democracy in the country and what are the reasons for economic disparity and institutional failure when there are constitutional provisions for "real" democracy and social justice.

He said the nation now has a consensus for a positive change and all should work for that. Former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan speaking at the meeting as a special guest said transparency in governance is a means to establishing social justice and economic development but lack of information and economic disparity are depriving the people of their basic rights and reducing production capacity.

"Unfortunately, the government of Bangladesh is more non-transparent than the British rulers of the colonial period," he added.

Even the British rule of the sub-continent, including Lord Clive's rule, was accountable to the British government and responsive to the people of the colony. But our government is not accountable in comparison to the British government, he said.

Referring to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, Akbar said famine cannot exist if there is free flow of information. He said the orders of the government are published through gazette notifications but those are never made public. A policy for the promotions of government employees was formulated but it was never made public.

Coming down on the non-transparency of the Public Service Commission (PSC), Akbar, also a former secretary, said he received the results of his exams in the then civil service of Pakistan within 15 days. The PSC never discloses the results to those who sat for the exams in order to get a Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) job.

He demanded all the gazette notifications and BCS results be put on a website for the public to see. There should be rules that gazette notifications should not be considered as gazettes unless they are put on a website, he stressed.

The speakers at the meeting said inaction of the parliamentary committees, lack of necessary laws like Right to Information Act, existence of Official Secrecy Act and the political parties not being accountable are the major obstacles to free flow of information and good governance.

They said it should be ensured that all constitutional institutions including the office of Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) and Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) report to the parliament regularly and laws are amended for it.

All organisations--NGOs and private institutions--should also be brought under the legal framework so that they provide information to the public to ensure their accountability.

SAHR Bangladesh chapter Coordinator Hameeda Hossain, who chaired the meeting, proposed the formation of a South Asian Human Rights Commission to monitor the human rights situation in the region.

The chain of impunity must be broken to free the people from injustice, she said.

Research Initiative Bangladesh (RIB) Chairman Shamsul Bari said the civil society and the NGOs that are speaking about free flow of information can start providing information to the people and can appoint information officers to do this.

Waliur Rahman of Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) said it is necessary to put serious thought into finding measures to stop constitutional posts being abused.

The Daily Star Editor and Publisher Mahfuz Anam, who moderated the meeting, said the government is in the centre of policy making and resources. "Ninety percent of the problems, therefore, would be solved if the government could be made transparent and accountable," he said.

Demanding abolishment of the Official Secrecy Act, he said at the moment people have no official right to information.

Kohinoor Begum of Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association suggested that the appointment process of PSC and judiciary must be transparent in order to ensure the rule of law and curbing of corruption.

Khushi Kabir of Nijera Kori and Habibunnesa of Save the Children UK stressed the need for a clear distinction between the responsibilities of lawmakers and local governments so that the lawmakers cannot interfere in the local government. Local governments must be strengthened for effective governance, they noted.

The speakers of the meeting said special measures should be taken for the empowerment of physically challenged and marginalised people who are deprived of information and resources.

Hydory Akbar Ahmed of Centre for Governance Studies (CGS) in Brac University presented a keynote presentation on behalf of CGS Director Manzoor Hasan and researcher Naomi Hossain.

Justice Naimuddin Ahmed, Professor Asif Nazrul of Dhaka University, Taleya Rehman of Democracy Watch, Tasmima Hossain of Anannya magazine, Sharmin Murshed of Brotee, Valerie Taylor of Centre for Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), human rights and development activists AHM Noman, Aminul Islam, Rina Roy, Shipa Hafiza, Shahidul Haque and Bikash Kumar Das also spoke at the meeting.