Dismissing the rumour that civil society group will take part in the next general election, the ''Nagorik Committee 2006'', a platform of a group of civil society members, on Sunday said it will not get involved in country’s politics as a political party.

"As a member of the civil society we don't have any desire to take part in politics, but we want to bring some positive changes in politics not by getting involved in it directly but by creating pressure from outside”, said Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, member secretary to the Committee, while addressing a press conference.

But Dr Debapriya, who is also the executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), avoided some questions relating to the organisation’s participation in the next general election or be a part of the caretaker government.

Instead of replying to such questions, he emphasized finding out and nominating qualified candidates in the next general elections. "The matter of selecting qualified candidates has become a national demand and the people will ultimately decide who are qualified and who are not," he said.

At the press conference, Dr Debapriya explained the background, aims, objectives and next course of action of the organisation.

The Nagorik Committee was formed with Prof Rehman Sobhan as its chief on March 20 following a dialogue jointly organised by the CPD, the Daily Star and the Prothom Alo. It held its first meeting Saturday to discuss activities and a realistic vision statement.

In a written statement, Debapriya himself raised several questions that faced the committee. “Should the organisation enter into politics through participation in the next general election and what funding methods are acceptable”, he himself posed these questions.

He said the organisation does not receive foreign donations. "We have not taken any money as donation in implementing this programme. So far, we have spent the money from CPD and other likeminded organizations”.

He, however, said they are ready to take any sort of assistance from other local individuals, institutions and expatriate Bangladeshis.

Asked if the civil society will nominate candidates in the next elections, Dr Debapriya said the Nagorik Committee has been thinking about how a qualified candidate could be elected.
He stressed the need for the full implementation of a High Court order given in May 2005 that had directed the Election Commission to collect information like candidate''s educational qualifications, their criminals records, if any, profession, source of income, assets and assets of those who are dependent on them and loans etc. These should then be disseminated through the mass media.

In addition to these information, Dr Debapriya also demanded to include information on candidates'' tax records and political affiliations, including any changing of parties.
However, he said the election commission never implements many of the laws to expose candidates’ information as there exist an unfair nexus among the political parties on this question.

He rejected outright the notion that civil society should opt for any political solution in the wake of political instability and impasse.

Dr Debapriya said civil society does not believe that a fair election is possible without bringing reforms in the existing caretaker government system and election commission (EC).

"The EC is not performing according to peoples’ expectation and has already become an ineffective body by creating controversy over fresh voters enlisting," he said.

As part of a pre-election programme for 2006-07 that would continue untill October, the Committee has taken up a two-pronged strategy - framing a vision statement and evaluating policy, and engaging in a dialogue across the country to create awareness among people.

For the vision statement and evaluating policy, the Committee will form a taskforce, evaluate overall policy, analyse the election manifestos of the political parties and attitude of the lawmakers on development policy, he said.

The Committee will sit again on April 24 to discuss the vision statement.

CPD officials, including Dr Fahmida Khatun, Fatema Yusuf, Dr Uttam Dev and Nayeem Hasan were, among others, present at the press conference.