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Bangladesh deserves better

Abu Afsarul Haider
OU R two leading leaders claim that their politics is for the well-being of the people and country but in reality both are practicing politics of hate and attrition which is based on personal grievances. They are least concerned about the sufferings of the people, the nation and the economy. Had they been at all concerned about the people of this country and the economy, they would have come out of the hartal culture a long time back. Hartal or shutdown is, to a person of conscience and proper learning, is an obsolete tool of protest in the modern world. Our politicians claim that hartal is their democratic right, but nowhere in the world it is practiced the way they are in Bangladesh. A 2005 study, Beyond Hartals, of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows the adverse impact of hartal on Bangladesh economy. During 1947-58, the average number of hartals peryearwas 1.5 days, which reached a whopping 173 days during 2001-2006. This year we already had more than 41 days of hartal, injuring 3400-plus people and killing 250. Majority of the picketers are student and youth wings of major political parties and most of them are reportedly engaged in illegal money making projects and in exchange they are used as musclemen to subdue their opponents. Politicians are taking advantage of the poverty and emotions of our people to serve their own interests and exploiting our youths, who are fighting with each other, engaging themselves in fierce feuds on behalf of their mentors in politics.
One may wonder, do such politicians have any idea about the present Bangladesh economy and its prospects? Despite a challenging global environment, particularly the global financial crisis in the recent years, Bangladesh has posted a solid economic perfor-mance. The Bangladesh Economic Update had forecast
that the country's GDP (Gross Domestic Product) will grow at around 6.0 per cent in the fiscal year 2013. This was to place Bangladesh among the top 35 out of 150 countries, as pointed out by International Monetary Fund (IMF). Our economy of USS 158.58 billion is driven by three major sectors: Agriculture, Remittance and Export. The garment industry exports USS 20 billion's worth of apparel, creating a job opportunity for four million people. Around seven million people are working abroad contributing 35 per cent to our total foreign earnings, which have already crossed the USS 17-billion mark. Pharmaceuticals, ceramics, plastic industries, and ship building are looking brighter. The entire world is looking to us as a resilient and attractive investment destination. This positive view is one echoed by some of the leading international investment banks. Goldman Sachs names Bangladesh in its list of 'Next IT countries (those most likely to become the world's largest economies after the BRIC nations - Brazil, Russia, India and China) and it is one of JP Morgan's 'Frontier Five' economies. Citigroup has identified Bangladesh as one of the 11 countries it terms Global Growth Generators (or 3G countries). Bangladesh also possesses an enthusiastic, hardworking, and low-cost workforce; 57.3% of the population is under 25, providing a youthful group for recruitment. A market of around 160 million people is very hard to ignore: Bangladesh's middle class is larger than the total population of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and a growing middle class means a large section of the population is becoming more inclined to embrace more sophisticated business solutions.
Besides our economic growth, we have also made significant progresses in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly relating to eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality and empowering women, ensuring universal primary education and reducing child mortality.
When the international arena has started recognising and appreciating our work, changing their negative perception and thinking of us as the "basket case" of the bygone days, poised to be grouped among the today's "Emerging Tigers of Asia", our political leadership has of late started acting in a weird manner by engaging themselves in self-destructive politics. Despite repeated attempts made by the civil society, business, trade and other sections, they have not stopped hostilities. According to reports of the International Chambers of Commerce Bangladesh, hartals cost the country an estimated $200 million a day, with $6 billion lost since last December - a sum that could finance the construction of two Padma Bridges. Violent and destructive politics is sending negative signals to the foreign buyers and investors, thus causing a greater dent to our economy than the recent Savar disaster. Investments, businesses are deserting us, and as a result the exports of garment products from Vietnam and Cambodia rose recently by 22 and 15 per cent respectively. They are destroying our education sector. Schools, colleges and universities remain closed during repeated shutdowns. Examinations at different levels are delayed and some were held at midnight, but nothing seems to be moving the politicians. It is we, the common ordinary people, who suffer the most -- about 30 million retail and small-scale businesses in the country have been pushed to the margin.
This is an era of media and Internet and one cannot hide the country's internal affairs from others.
The world is watching our bloody street battles, violent and destructive politics where people are fighting with each other and getting killed everyday. In the name of andolon, hartals are called, public transports, private vehicles, trains, shops and business houses are being burned. The whole country is shut down day after day; business and factories are disrupted because of hartals. By seeing all these on television, they think all Bangladeshis are trouble-makers. It is so unfortunate for us that the image of the nation of 160 million people, living in 56,977 square miles, is being tarnished by a few so-called politicians who are wreaking havoc in the name of betterment of our country.
Bangladesh is a leader in promoting global peace - in terms of sending troops on peacekeeping missions. But the irony is we don't have peace at home. According to our constitution, all powers in the Republic belong to the 'people' but it seems we 'people' have become powerless and helpless and therefore we deserve better. We are in the middle of a crossroads. Our prospects are bright, we want to become a middle-income country by 2021 raising the per capita income to USS 2,000 and it is the responsibility of our politicians to take us to that destination. Therefore, it is high time our politicians changed their behavioural pattern to ensure the survival of democracy. It is expected that the political leadership would listen to and take cognisance of people's voices, which so far they have failed to do. Unless the political parties come to a minimum consensus the non state actors would appropriate the