Dhaka, May 4 (IANS) Bangladesh’s professional bodies are increasingly divided along partisan lines, leading to the sidelining of professional standards in favour of political interests. This trend serves personal ambition, including securing leadership positions and exploiting opportunities, often under the guise of party loyalty, a report said on Monday.

Mahfuz Anam, Editor of leading Bangladeshi newspaperThe Daily Star, wrote that doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, and members of many other professions in the country have openly placed party interest above professionalism, resulting in a decline in professional standards.

“One of the key factors that has prevented our modernisation and progress is politicisation of public service bodies like the bureaucracy, administration, and law enforcement institutions, whose accountability has shifted from the people and transformed into loyalty to the ruling party of the day,” Anam stated.

Highlighting a politicised example from the legal profession, he said last week the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) rejected the nomination papers of 42 lawyers out of 90 candidates in the election scheduled for May 13-14 on grounds of their affiliation with the Awami League, whose political activities have been banned under the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Act, 2025.

“With one stroke, electoral rivals were totally removed. The SCBA should disclose under what provision of their own article of association they took that action. The fact that the association has so far refused to make its formal resolution public raises questions about the attempt to hide something that the public deserves to know,” Anam stressed.

He noted that denying 42 lawyers the opportunity to participate in an election, for which they are legally and professionally qualified, amounts to a violation of their legal and constitutional rights.

“The lawyers whose nominations were cancelled did not submit their applications as candidates of the Awami League; they reportedly did so in their individual capacity. Today, the SCBA is practically taking away their right to contest elections, and tomorrow, they may use the same law to deprive them of their right to practise. So, the decision by SCBA has serious implications and must be thoroughly examined,” he stated.

Anam said that the situation is not only dangerous but also “extremely damaging” for the reputation of the current Tarique Rahman-led Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) government, which expressed opposition against such practices.

He added that such conduct by the SCBA erodes public faith in the law and in the constitution, and should never be permitted.

Emphasising the wider concerns, Anam said, “I conclude by repeating the initial question about how politicisation of our professions has held Bangladesh back. Take a look at the world and realise where every profession has gone, is going, and where they are headed. Do we have any chance of competing without transforming ourselves? The place to begin is to restore professionalism in every profession and institution in our country.”

–IANS

scor/ksk/as