Both the major political parties in Bangladesh were equally active in using national strikes (hartals) as a means of protest, costing the nation a staggering 3-4 per cent of GDP annually during the 1990s, reveals a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the city yesterday at a press briefing.

The Report, titled: 'Beyond Hartals: Towards Democratic Dialogue in Bangladesh', noted that when in opposition, political parties were usually denied adequate chance to voice their views.

"If Bangladesh could save the economic and social losses due to hartals, the nation could aspire to match the outstanding progress being made by other countries in Asia. Ending the hartal culture could yield a development leap for the entire nation," said UNDP Resident Representative Jorgen Lissner while briefing the press.

But leading economist of the country, chairperson of CPD Prof Rehman Sobhan noted hartal had a very insignificant impact on economic growth saying that sometimes it was found that the growth was higher at a period when there were more hartals than the period of less hartals.

He said that hartals were the reflection of the malfunctioning of democracy as the strikes were called to protest some abnormal situation like killing of political leaders.

He lamented that the political leaders of the country did not sit together face to face between 1990 and 2005 in order to discuss the problems in their respective parties.

Shamson H Chowdhury, chairperson of Square group, and Yasmeen Morshed, chairperson of Scholastica School among others spoke at the press conference.

"The opposition is frequently sidelined in parliament and their social mobilisation activities are curbed", the UNDP report said adding that as a result, politicians claimed that calling hartals was often their only chance to raise their concerns.

The report put forward a number of short-term and long-term alternatives to hartals, which encourage whichever party is in opposition to voice its concerns through peaceful methods and, at the same time, encourage the party in power to allow greater space for the 'culture of democratic dialogue' to take hold and grow in Bangladesh.

"Historically, the hartal culture has respectable roots in Ghandi's civil disobedience against colonialism. But Bangladeshis are now masters in their own home. The nation has a Parliament where members can raise concerns, it also has a relatively free media where new thinking can be expressed," UNDP Resident Representative Jorgen Lissner said on the occasion.

The report revealed that since the advent of democracy in Bangladesh in 1991, the frequency of hartals had increased dramatically.

"From 1995 to 2002, for example, 611 hartals were called, compared to the period from 1947 to 1954, when only six hartals were called to oppose language restrictions," the report said while narrating the history of hartal.

The report dubs this ‘vicious spiral’ as Bangladesh's 'hartal culture', and concludes that this culture is hindering the nation's economic growth and development prospects.

"When a nation-wide hartal is called by one of the major parties, Bangladesh is forced to shut down. Shops, markets and places of work stay closed. Children miss school. Buses and other means of transport are forced to stay off the roads. As a result, earnings are reduced, education activities obstructed, and social services are difficult for ordinary people to access," the report said.

For the nation's school and university students, hartals translate into missed classes and postponed exams. According to the report, many are now calling today's students the 'delayed-generation' as their wait to graduate and enter the workforce becomes longer and longer, causing financial strains on their families.

On the international stage, the nation suffers from an image of instability as hartals frequently cause-missed shipments and lost orders, according to leading business people interviewed for the report.

"In a globalised economy with fierce competition for investment capital and jobs, no country can afford continuous confrontational politics. If a country is largely closed for democratic dialogue, it cannot possibly be seen as open for business," Jorgen Lissner said.

"Today just under half of Bangladesh's people live below the poverty line. The economy, with an average yearly growth rate of 5 per cent, has an impressive potential for pulling millions out of poverty," said Mr. Lissner.

Quoting the UNDP report he said that 95 per cent of people surveyed believed that hartals damaged the economy and society because of hampered business activities, lack of access to health and education facilities, damage to property and public buildings, and loss of income.

55 per cent people surveyed also felt that the strikes failed to have any impact on policy. 70 percent thought constructive alternatives to hartals do exist.

The widely cited alternatives to hartal are public rallies and discussion in parliament. The report made numerous recommendations for moving 'beyond the culture of hartal', and helping democracy to grow.

It suggested reform of parliament, as well as the electoral and political party systems by introducing such measures as 'opposition' days/hours in parliament and ensuring the independence of the Speaker.

The report also recommended that government establish basic watchdog agencies such as the Ombudsman, a human rights commission and an effective anti-corruption commission.

In the report the UNDP also mentioned some alternative programmes to hartal such as ‘human chain’, signature campaign’ and ‘Pada Jatra’.

Hartals inflict massive losses to Bangladesh’s exports. During 1999, hartals caused an estimated loss of almost 334 million US$ in export value. The long-term cost of periodic hartals can, therefore, be assumed to be even greater.

UNB adds: Prepared by ten Bangladeshi authors, the report shows a vast majority of Bangladeshis want to graduate out of hartal culture.

The Netherlands and UNDP jointly sponsored the study. The assigned researchers conducted extensive study for two years on the origin of hartal, its past impact and present inefficacy with the change of time and suggested alternative means of protest, for the interest of economy and the country.

"What is urgently needed today is fresh thinking, whether drawn from Bangladesh’s own past or from positive examples elsewhere, about the country’s democratic processes," said the UN development agency’s country chief.

He said the proponents of hartal claim to be exercising globally agreed rights such as freedom of assembly and freedom of expression. But as long as hartals are associated with intimidation, coercion and infringement on other people’s freedom of movement, as long as hartals inflict severe costs on the nation as a whole, attempts to justify hartals by invoking principles of "freedom" do not come across as convincing or credible.

"If the parliament members outside the parties in power find themselves repeatedly excluded from meaningful dialogue (which seems to be the case continuously since the return of the democracy in 1991), and if parliament does not serve as the primary forum for democratic dialogue on the nation’s future, it is hardly surprising that the centre of gravity of the political debate shifts to more unruly arenas- such as streets," said Lissner.

Suggesting alternative programmes to hartal, the report indicates numerous "soft strategies"- or alternative types of peaceful demonstrations other than hartals- that have been used by parties across the political spectrum and by civil-society groups to make their voices heard.

However, the study focused on a dilemma: the general trend in Bangladesh is that the main opposition party opts for such "soft strategies" primarily during the early period of its term in opposition. But as national elections approach, hartals tend to be called more frequently.

Even following serious incident on August 21 when 23 people were killed after the throwing of bombs at a political rally of the main AL opposition, this did not lead to spate of hartals, as might have been expected.

However, the report said recent killing of eminent AL leader Shah AMS Kibria, along with three other persons, on January 27 elevated tensions once again and two three-day-long hartals have been called with a 10-day time lag.

Although political parties must take the key responsibility in ending the "hartal impasse", all sectors of society have an important role to play to ensure that expression of views takes place in a responsible way that will allow the country to continue along its development path. The media, law-enforcement bodies, teachers and students, academics and civil society—all have a role to play.

On the price of hartal and its impact on economy, the UNDP study cited a World Bank report published in 2001 that had estimated that during the 1990s, approximately 5 per cent of GDP was lost annually due to hartal. BGMEA said it loses US$ 18 million a day for the shutdown.

New and innovative types of social mobilisation and demonstrations should be considered and other considerations such as impact on traffic congestion, law and order and the environment should also be taken into account, suggests the UN agency in the study report.

A code of conduct for democratic dialogue could be agreed upon by all parties, which would establish certain rules of the game to promote democratic dialogue.

The UNDP representative said the study tried to give a message that demonstrations are fine, dissension is very important, but not at the expense of economy, not at the expense of free movement and not at the expense of people’s security.

The report also suggested for amending rules of procedures of parliament giving 10 'Opposition Days' per year where they set agenda, setting up the parliamentary committees within first session of the parliament and alternative types of protests, including mock demonstration, symbolic work stoppage, human chains, signature campaign, mass-campaign, march, people's stage and media coverage.