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leader Md Asaduzzaman Asad spoke about the country’s present rights situation.

It is a matter of regret that even after 49 years of independence, people are being victims of extrajudicial killing and forced disappearance, he said. “A suffocating situation is prevailing in the country where people are being deprived of their rights,” he added.

Fakhrul alleged that the government has created a myth surrounding its development projects to fool people. “Only development cannot resolve people’s sufferings. If there is no democracy, no development can be sustainable.”

The BNP leader urged all to unite to restore democracy.

Party’s standing committee member Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said as the government is not accountable to anyone, they do not care about the country’s human rights condition.

“Absence of democracy is the root cause of all problems. Democracy must be restored to come out of this situation,” he added.

He also claimed that all the autocratic regimes had created a sense of fear to stay in power and the incumbent government is not an exception.

Among others, former Dhaka University teacher Mahbub Ullah and Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury spoke at the seminar, participated by delegates from the US, the UK, Russia, India, European Union and other countries.

During an open discussion, Shah Faisal Kakar, acting high commissioner of Pakistan to Bangladesh, took the floor and raised the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. He demanded that a UN inquiry commission must be established to look into the human rights situation there.

Fakhrul asked Kakar several times to end the speech and at one stage, stopped him abruptly.