& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

LETTER FROM AMERICA

President Clinton's Lightning Visit to Bangladesh

Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed writes from Princeton
**The cancellation of President Clinton s visit to Joypura garnered maximum attention in the American media. It was immediately linked to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist enterprise. Bangladesh was supposed to be the least security risk for President Clinton; it did not quite turn out that way. **
AFTER all the hype and preparation, the main event lasted only a few hours. President Clinton came not to Bangladesh, but to Dhaka: security concerns prevented him from venturing out of the nation’s capital. Nevertheless, for a few hours, as Bangladeshis saw the US President up close and personal, Bangladesh was at the centre of the world's attention. The President too saw Bangladeshis in their elements and doubtless conquered a few
President Clinton's visit was a welcome relief from the drudgery of life for ordinary Bangladeshis. However, much as we would like to believe, it Is unlikely to usher In a new era in American-Bangladeshi relationship. We will still have to travel the arduous road ahead alone. President Clinton did not visit Bangladesh because of Its gas reserves or its strategic importance. The truth Is President Clinton was in the neighbourhood and among other things wanted to see his old friend Dr. Muhammad Yunus's microcredit phenomenon at work for himself. The President Is allowed stme latitude for such excursions.
There Is a tendency to read much more significance Into presidential visits than there actually is. With much fanfare the late President Nixon visited his ancestral homeland Ireland in 1972. After twenty-eight years, the park bearing nis name that he laid foundation to. has been reclaimed by the nearby forest!
Nevertheless, it was good that President Clinton visited Bangladesh. It made Bangladeshis feel good. All that can be said in Bangladesh's favour is that if there were any question marks regarding Bangladesh's standing within American foreign policy establishment. the visit would not have taken place. For once
Bangladesh was In the news for an event that was not a manmade or natural disaster. Westerners saw the irony: the "beggar" being “courted for Its purse" (gas). Print and television Journalists scoured Bangladesh for stories.
President Clinton was coin-p 11 in e n t a r y towards Bangladesh. Some in the local media could have been a little more generous. It is good manners to hold one s tongue until the Invited guest departs. While It Is true that the US government sided with Pakistan during Bangladesh's liberation war. it is also true that the American Press and people were vociferously in our favour. President Nixon did not want his China overtures, which was secretly launched by Henry Kissinger from Pakistani spll. disrupted by Bangladeshis clamouring for independence. Henry Kissinger, of “Bangladesh is an international basket case" infame, did not want Bangladesh's struggle for Independence to derail his Nobel Peace Prize opportunity.
Historically. American Democratic administrations have been pro-India, and the Republicans have favoured Pakistan. Besides. Nixon was a fan of Field Marshal Ayub Khan and his nation. Pakistan. On a private visit to India in early 1968, the former Vice President called on the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Apparently. Indira asked an attendant in Hindi how long Nixon was to stay in her office. Nixon never forgave her for the perceived slight, and made it extremely difficult for Indira and Bangladesh in those
fateful days of 1971. During the actual war. Nixon had the Sixth Fleet sent to the Bay of Bengal to Intimidate India. At one point, when the war was going badly for Pakistan, Incredibly the Chief Executive of the United States actually complained to the Press that the State Department was Ignoring his demand for strongly worded support for Pakistan and condemnation for India!
Some requests that our leaders made of President Clinton - debt relief, duty-free entry of Bangladeshi goods into the US, Increased quota for Bangladeshi garments, and more American Investments — are reasonable. Other requests, such as amnesty for Illegal immigrants, are less so. Anyone entering the US illegally Tias broken the law of the land. Occasionally. America grants the illegals amnesty. However, it has to be left up to the generosity and goodwill of America. The Illegals and their advocates cannot force generosity by demanding that they be given legal status!
The cancellation of the President's visit to Joypura garnered maximum attention In the American media. It was immediately linked to Osama bln Laden's terrorist enterprise. Bangladesh was supposed to be the least security risk for President Clinton; if did not quite turn out that way.
Seasoned reporters from America descended on Bangladesh prior to the Presidents visit. It is interesting to see how they view Bangladesh. One of them, Barry Bearak. published two front-page articles complete with photographs, in
The New York Times. The one on Tuesday, March 21 featured photographs of the women from Joypura village meeting with President Clinton at the American Embassy. Bearak. who visited the village, recounted the villager's bitter disappointment at the cancellation of the visit for security reasons. Bcarak's article entitled "Shards of Misery, Not Far From Clinton Stop in Bangladesh." published on Monday, January 20 was much more in depth. The article contrasted the presence of squatters at Kawran Bazaar Bustee in the shadow of President Clinton's hotel for the day. Thanks to his local contacts, Mr. Bearak did not miss a thing.
Bearak recited the usual pathetic tale of Bangladesh: one of the world's poorest nation (per capita Income of $289), of the size of Wisconsin holding half the US's population, rivers changing courses, uprooting the people and swelling the ranks of the Bustee-dwellers. and the arsenic-poisoned drinking water killing people. He printed the first few lyrics of a song former Beatle George Harrison sang at the “Concert for Bangladesh" Jointly organized by Ravi Shanker and Harrison at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1971: “Bangladesh. Bangladesh/ Where so many people are dying fast/ And It sure looks like a mess/ I have never seen so much distress."
Mr. Bearak reserved his most scathing scorn for our leaders. “Democracy suffers prolonged malfunctions, in part because the two who run the main political parties hate each other down to the bone."
He quotes an unnamed western diplomat: “You can say this Is the kind of nice Islamic country that America likes — doesn’t host terrorists, doesn't force women to wear veils — but the political parties are corrupt Tammany Hall patronage machines. The purpose of the parties is to make sure their businessmen get the contracts and loans — and to make life Impossible for the political opposition."
Bearak continues: "The Awanri League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party have little In the way of disagreements, and yet they steadfastly attack each other with profanity, street violence, general strikes and boycotts of parliament." “This is a country accomplishing many things, and the future has such promise, but this Is despite the politicians, not because of them." said Muhammad Yunus, the managing director of the Grameen Bank. "Our politicians are stuck with their own history, and are always settling scores." Dr. Yunus said. "It's the politics of tit for tat. the country be damned." said Mahfuz Anam, editor of the English language newspaper. The Dally Star."
Khaleda Zia. 54, takes issue with such remarks, refusing to share any blame for the country's troubled governance. She Is not a taciturn woman. Asked about the state of democracy In Bangladesh, she replied with a 67-minute filibuster against her opponents. Later, she admitted to hating Sheikh Hasina. but stressed that this deep loathing was nothing personal. She disagreed with those
who suggest the welfare of the Impoverished nation suffers because of a private feud My differences with Hasina are all political." she said, sitting before a huge portrait of her late husband. But then she thought a while longer. And anger rose in her throat. "I went to her daughter's wedding when 1 was Prime Minister and I was not properly received." she said bitterly, waving her Index finger. "She did not even come and sit with
Sheikh Hasina. 53. likewise declaimed the notion of a private grudge. "Why should I hate her?' she said sitting In an office decorated with paintings of her father Her government has successfully prosecuted many of her father s killers. She has renamed an extraordinary number of public structures in her family's memory."
"There Is no personal clash or enmity with Khaleda." the Prime Minister repeated, sloughing aside the very suggestion. "I am the daughter ofthe father of the nation. Who can match that?
I guess the take home message is, be careful how you treat guests at your daughter's wedding. It may haunt you later. And that since Edward Heath and Margaret Thatcher were both grocer's children, they should not have been elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Nor should someone named William Jefferson Clinton (nee Blythe III) — son of a travelling salesman named William Jefferson Blythe II. whose mother remarried after Blythe Il's death, a car salesman named Roger Clinton — have been elected President of the United States. Americans reading Bearak's article will come to the same conclusion that has been articulated in these columns before. Bangladesh needs a change In leadership — fast!