EDITORIAL : THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

          

 

Manmohan's verbal bombshell

"Off -the -record" comments betray a lack of understanding of Bangladesh

The Indian Prime Minister's comments on Bangladesh come as a huge shock and surprise. Even more astonishing is the silence of our government. Its closest ally -- at the level of the PM no less -- has made a damning indictment of the political health of this country, describing it as so volatile that it could change for the worse at any moment. The Indian PM has further said that 25% of Bangladesh's population supports Jamaat-I-Islami, is "anti-Indian" and "in the clutches" of the Pakistani ISI.

The Bangladesh government has neither demanded a clarification nor protested the evaluation, displaying an attitude quite inexplicable for a sovereign government.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's statement is weak on facts and way off the mark in understanding. Data from past elections have consistently shown that support for the Jamaat and other Islamic parties has never exceeded 5-6% of the electorate. Nor are there reports of any significant ISI presence in this country. That is why it is all the more amazing that a man of Dr. Singh's stature, known for his measured words and diplomatic skills, should make such comments.

It could hardly have been a slip of words, given that he was speaking in a planned meeting with news editors and that the Indian Foreign Minister is due to visit Dhaka this week. It forces us to question whether India's image of and attitude towards Bangladesh has changed, despite the many signs of every day improvement in our bilateral relations.

This paper always stood for good and mutually beneficially relations with India and celebrated the progress that has been achieved by the Awami League government in this respect. We value the commitment -- reiterated by the Indian PM once again -- to resolve water-sharing and other outstanding issues.

The Indian Prime Minister referred to the generosity of India in providing US$1 billion credit line to Bangladesh. While this is an important contribution to our development, it must be mentioned that bulk of it is devoted to infra-structure building for transit purposes, and is tied to using Indian companies and materials.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's comments show a lack of understanding of Bangladesh. These also demonstrate a lack of confidence in the government and the stability of our political system. These have now been termed as off-the-record comments, and were not meant to be judgmental. Notwithstanding the deliberate damage control, we have to point out that there exists a serious lack of understanding on India's part about the reality in Bangladesh. There is a lot to learn from the Indian PM's remarks, even it were off-the-record; perhaps more so because they were off-the-record.

Tragedy on Batali Hill

Have we learnt any lesson?

The recovery of seventeen bodies in the aftermath of the landslide and protection wall collapse in Chittagong's Batali Hill area is a tragedy that could have been avoided. It is not that such calamities are new in this country.

In the past too there have been torrential rains which have led to landslides in the hilly regions and consequent death of people living nearby. And every time such accidents have occurred, the authorities have been spurred into action more as a reaction than as a step toward preventing a recurrence of such accidents in future. Had the authorities been more assertive about citizens' safety in the face of natural disasters, we could perhaps have averted the disaster this time.

We have been told that people inhabiting areas close to the hills have repeatedly been warned to move to safer locations in the interest of their safety. That is appreciated, but such warnings should have been followed by strict action on the part of the authorities.

The mayor has spoken of the city corporation asking people in the Batali Hill region and elsewhere to relocate. That is not good enough. When lives are always at the mercy of nature, it becomes the duty of the administration to undertake two essential responsibilities. In the first place, residents of the vulnerable areas are asked to move to safer locations before disaster actually strikes. Secondly, once it becomes obvious that voluntary relocation is not taking place, it becomes important for the authorities to move in and take people to safety.

Some important lessons should have been learnt from the Batali Hill tragedy. Let such disaster not lead to deaths again. All-out action towards removing people and homes from below, and around the hills and relocating them to safer places, must now commence.