vtc tHILE the very rationale behind sending large W delegations on official visits has been often questioned, the composition of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s 65-member entourage for the four-day official visit to the United Kingdom has certainly added a new dimension to the whole debate. As if inclusion of as many as nine of her relatives in the contingent was not enough, the government had to resort to bracketing them in the category of eminent citizens. Even her infant grand daughters enjoy the designation. All this tends to make light of a high level visit.

Even on her trip to New York in 1996 to address the United Nations General Assembly some of her relatives were included in the state delegation, so were they on her previous visit to the UK in 1997 to attend the Commonwealth Summit. Ironically, it is Sheikh Hasina herself who had unleashed a scathing criticism on the size of government delegations when she was the Leader of the Opposition in the parliament.

In our view, a country like ours, which is struggling to alleviate poverty, should, by no means, plan such extravagant visits. By the foreign minister’s own submission, there is no definitive bilateral agenda for the visit. The prime minister will pay a courtesy call on her British counterpart Tony Blair to discuss matters of mutual interest apart from the joint inauguration of the Bangladesh Festival in London. There will also be an investment promotion conference. To say the least, the ^occasion hardly demanded such a large delegation. We would expect the prime minister and her government to be circumspect on this in future. We cannot fail to notice also the planned duration of her stay in UK. The prime minister's absence for ten long days is bound to be acutely felt amidst the pressing domestic agenda she is leaving behind.