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To the Editor

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FM's visit to India
I am heartened by the editorial (DS Iune3rd) on Morshed-Natwar talks inNewDelhi. As aregular reader of the DS, I agree that this paper has consistently supported the cause of Bangladesh-India friendship. In fact, given Bangladesh's geopolitical location, one can only argue against this friendship in a fit of madness. It is also heartening that the new Congress government has come out with very positive statements on its desire to forge better understanding and relationship with Bangladesh.
However, as one who has followed this topic dispassionately over the years, I feel a strong urge to bring certain facts to the attention of your readers, for our desires apart, the issue of forging better Bangladesh-India relations is much more difficult than meets the eye. To start with, the dispatch of a special envoy by Bangladesh was a rather hasty decision. Going by what we have read in the newspapers, the idea seems to have emanated in the PMO and initially ministers from other ministries were named as a possible special envoy. It then appeared, going by newspapers reports, that the foreign minister was interested to go and in a hurry. In fact, the foreign ministry went ahead and even mentioned dates that were later changed, in an effort to force the issue. What our side did not do, again assessing from reading this morning's newspapers, is send the FM to India with a clear sense of purpose and clear stands on the outstanding issues between our two countries. The foreign minister went to India, so it appears, just for a publicity exercise. When our special envoy met the Indian Minister for Petroleum, Mr. Mani Shankhar Ayar, a former diplomat and received an assurance on double diesel export, he had no answer to the Indian request on the sale of natural gas and his response was evasive, to say the least. He also had no answer to the Indian request on the transit and his response to the gas pipeline from Myanmar to India was one pulled straight out of the hat!! I am sure when Mr. Khan was asked on the serious issues of cross border terrorism during this visit, he had nothing to say either for we have made our position on this known very unequivocally just last month when the DG of BDR told the Indians categorically that the presence of Indian troops inside Bangladesh for joint operation against the terrorists would be an infringement on our sovereignty.
Rightly or wrongly, the BNP is perceived in New Delhi as antiIndian. The consistent denial to the Indians their requests on land transit or use of the Chittagong port , both economic and commercial requests, cannot be continued any longer if Bangladesh wants Indian friendship. On the sale of gas, Mr. Khan's "assurance" that India will be the first country to buy our gas because of "proximity" was again one pulled out of the hat, rather than one thought out as a part of a mature policy. Bangladesh should have no fancy wishes that it would receive Indian cooperation on river linkages or trade concessions
unilaterally without concessions on the sale of gas, transit, etc. In fact, now that the Indians have offered unilateral concessions or made promises to do so , Bangladesh must come out with their concrete quid pro quo fast. This is where I am afraid that the outcome of the visit could bring bad consequences for us. Bangladesh will not or cannot come out fast enough on what the Indians wish of us. The BNP government has very strong, negative and well entrenched views against each of these concessions and it would be foolhardy to believe that just because India has a Congress government in New Delhi, Bangladesh would change its stance on these issues. Then again, Congress also has very strong views about Bangladesh that does not tally with this sudden positive vibes emanating from New Delhi. Therefore it may be
better to consider Mr. Khan's visit just as a publicity exercise and leave it at that, rather than raise high expectations.
Shahjahan Ahmed
DhanmondiRA, Dhaka
Admission into public universities
After reading many letters on brain drain, I just couldn't help but write on the disparity faced by English medium students in getting into good public universities which offer subjects of their choice like biochemistry, genetic engineering, applied physics etc. As a result of the difficulty in getting into subjects of their choice many students go abroad or study in private universities which offer a very limited
set of subjects, like BBA, computer science, English or Economics. One of the premier institutions is Dhaka University and from my experience many of the regulations and conditions make it extremely difficult for an English medium student to get into the subject of their choice in this university (and other public universities too). First of all, marks are blindly set by the official regulations which terms A as 80%, B 70%, C 60% and so on — although many students obtain significantly higher marks. Secondly, students are forced to appear in an examination the syllabus of which is significantly different from the one that they studied. Third problem lies only with the Dhaka University test LAW, which states that if a candidate has appeared in physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics in the HSC or "equivalent", one
is obligated to appear in those only during the entrance test. However, for an English medium student who wants to study life science, would not it be more logical to give physics, chemistry, biology and English? So what's the point in stating all the malaise if there is no cure? I do have a simple solution to help those English medium students who want to study in our public universities. With the constant rise in the number of English medium students, it is imperative that our public universities and medical colleges conduct examinations with separate questions for English medium students which adhere to the English medium syllabus. Actual marks should be taken into account and this can be easily obtained by the authorities from the British Council. This is very important because of the immense competition during the entrance test in which losing a mark may mean going down 100 positions. Questions which will tickle the intellect should only be present and general knowledge questions like "What is the world's highest water fall?" (Asked in one of the medical college admission tests) should be avoided. Topics which are to be given during the entrance exams should be dependant on the examinee but not stated as a law; however to ensure only the right kind of students get into the right programme, the prerequisites of giving certain topics for certain programmes (as it is already set) should be in place.
These are only few of the flaws that I noticed and others may have noticed more, so I sincerely urge the authorities to do some research in solving the problems and look into the matter seriously.
DewanSArefeen
University of Toronto
Coincidence!
The opposition parties called a 24-hour hartal during the visit of Mr. Powell who was in the city for a few hours only. The law enforcing agencies faced fewer problems in maintaining and making security arrangements for the visiting dignitaries because there were fewer vehicles on the roads. This time around the hartal was for 24 hours (!).
Is it because Mr. Rumsfeld was to stay in the city overnight? I wonder!
MS
On e-mail
For infrastructural development
For commerce and investment, 2004 is a real challenge for Bangladesh. Some days ago, FBCCI President Abdul Awal Mintu said that not only for trade treaty but also for overall improvement itisneces-sary to remove infrastructural problems.
To my mind, for infrastructural development we need to do the following:
a) Tax prohibition should be removed for increment of export.
b) The rules of origin must be slackened.
c) Supply ability must be increased to make the best use of opportuni-
ties.
d) Expertise in the trade sector must be optimised.
e) Hydro-electricity generation must be increased.
Md. Ariful Islam
Electrical Engg.RUET
Howz that!
When the big heads of the cricket world were crticizing the efforts of Bangladeshi players and strongly opposing them having the Test status, Bangladesh gave a big blow on the face of them in the first Test. When the captain of our team led
from the front and scored a century and a wonderful innings from Ashraful and a surprise century from Rafique all seemed to ask those cricket experts— howz that?
Now how will the Aussie captain divide two types of teams strong and weak? One who understands cricket should not say that we do not deserve a Test status, because in cricket you do not know what will happen.
Arman Khan
Tejgaon, Farmgate, Dhaka
Slow traffic
The photo in the front page of your May 31 issue showed the problem
of slow traffic snarling the vehicular traffic, but I found the heading insensitive. Just look at the men working so hard with a heavy load. Certainly they were not "laughing" at breaking the rules.
I'm sure those very poor guys pushing and tugging with all their might were just trying to get the j ob done. If you want to look for the culprit find the van owner or freight owner.
Dr. Caroline Bauer
Chittagong