For freedom and independence of operations without interference
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
Shamsher Chowdhury
We should neither give in nor give up all too easily. We find it rather interesting every time our big brother raises an issue concerning bilateral trade or otherwise, we seem to be rather obliged to comply with the same. It is our impression that our foreign policy is dominated or influenced by India's concerns more than that of ours. At times it looks like we are, for some reasons or the other obliged to treat her as a specially favoured nation. While we are engaged in petty political squabbles and internal feuds, our neighbour is busy with its aggressive posture to extract maximum benefits out of Bangladesh. Our neighbour has rightly assessed our vulnerability at this point of time. Fourty years have passed since we gained our independence and yet our politics and political wisdom is in its infancy. We lack professionalism nearly in every segment of the functionaries entrusted with governance and management of the state. To top it all it is our impression that we, as a nation, lack self respect and dignity. Our sense of honour is highly misplaced. To this day we have not been able to rise above party interests. At times one wonders, do we really have a clear concept of what is a sovereign nation? One has reasons to believe that our foreign policy is heavily focused on India, making the policy rather imbalanced and narrow. We tend to ignore the fact that we need to have equitable pro-active relationship also with other countries of the region and of the West. Currently we are engaged in negotiating a number of bilateral agreements, on trade, commerce and a host of others with our comparatively powerful neighbour. With no reflection to any one it looks as though we are rushing into it unduly. There is also this attitude perceived by many as though we are obligated to "accommodate" our big brother's requests or proposals in all conceivable ways. To this day we are in the dark as to the manner in which the seaports will be accessed and used by India and what benefits would accrue to Bangladesh in real terms. What is this all about over a dozen of connectivity routes to be laid open to our neighbour? To begin with, we are not too sure as to what all is that on the table as placed by our neighbour. Surely there are a number of proposals we need not accept and ignore straight away. Can one tell us specifically as to how many of proposals and requests put forward by Bangladesh have been accepted on the basis of honourable and mutual benefit to this day? Hundreds of flag meetings have taken place concerning killing of Bangladeshis along our borders. Our good neighbour has made innumerable promises to stop it, only to be broken. People say at times it is easier to get a British visa compared to obtaining an Indian visit by a Bangladeshi national. Bilateral agreements on trade, commerce are one thing but when it comes to direct management of our facilities within the country is quite another. Such proposals should preferably be ignored. We are referring to one recent report in a section of the media. This is about India's proposal of managing two of our inland container terminals (ICTs). Surely given the will, we can manage them by our own resources. The problem with conceding to such proposal is this, that today it is the ICTs, who know tomorrow it may be other important installations. The problem with us is that of all the ministries, the ministry of foreign affairs, too, lacks in trained and professional diplomats. Perhaps it is the weakest link in the chain. Many of its senior personnel are political appointees. Whoever is inducted into the foreign ministry, his or her main concern and interest lies in getting some assignment abroad in our missions or elsewhere more than anything else. To top it all we are unable to place or negotiate a proposal in a professional way. Very often our body language and articulation is rather poor. A classic example is the performance of the ministry relating to the saga of Yunus. There, we were like a kid fumbling with his or her food on the plate. We were like a student who came to the class room unprepared and worried as to how to face the teacher. We do have our limitations but we need not behave like novices Our diplomats lack two vital elements of diplomacy tact and skill in dealing with emerging issues between two nations. It is high time that our ministry of foreign affairs put its acts together in consultation with our policy makers. However, every effort should be made so that it has adequate freedom and independence of operations without interference. The writer can be reached at e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com
We should neither give in nor give up all too easily. We find it rather interesting every time our big brother raises an issue concerning bilateral trade or otherwise, we seem to be rather obliged to comply with the same. It is our impression that our foreign policy is dominated or influenced by India's concerns more than that of ours. At times it looks like we are, for some reasons or the other obliged to treat her as a specially favoured nation. While we are engaged in petty political squabbles and internal feuds, our neighbour is busy with its aggressive posture to extract maximum benefits out of Bangladesh. Our neighbour has rightly assessed our vulnerability at this point of time. Fourty years have passed since we gained our independence and yet our politics and political wisdom is in its infancy. We lack professionalism nearly in every segment of the functionaries entrusted with governance and management of the state. To top it all it is our impression that we, as a nation, lack self respect and dignity. Our sense of honour is highly misplaced. To this day we have not been able to rise above party interests. At times one wonders, do we really have a clear concept of what is a sovereign nation? One has reasons to believe that our foreign policy is heavily focused on India, making the policy rather imbalanced and narrow. We tend to ignore the fact that we need to have equitable pro-active relationship also with other countries of the region and of the West. Currently we are engaged in negotiating a number of bilateral agreements, on trade, commerce and a host of others with our comparatively powerful neighbour. With no reflection to any one it looks as though we are rushing into it unduly. There is also this attitude perceived by many as though we are obligated to "accommodate" our big brother's requests or proposals in all conceivable ways. To this day we are in the dark as to the manner in which the seaports will be accessed and used by India and what benefits would accrue to Bangladesh in real terms. What is this all about over a dozen of connectivity routes to be laid open to our neighbour? To begin with, we are not too sure as to what all is that on the table as placed by our neighbour. Surely there are a number of proposals we need not accept and ignore straight away. Can one tell us specifically as to how many of proposals and requests put forward by Bangladesh have been accepted on the basis of honourable and mutual benefit to this day? Hundreds of flag meetings have taken place concerning killing of Bangladeshis along our borders. Our good neighbour has made innumerable promises to stop it, only to be broken. People say at times it is easier to get a British visa compared to obtaining an Indian visit by a Bangladeshi national. Bilateral agreements on trade, commerce are one thing but when it comes to direct management of our facilities within the country is quite another. Such proposals should preferably be ignored. We are referring to one recent report in a section of the media. This is about India's proposal of managing two of our inland container terminals (ICTs). Surely given the will, we can manage them by our own resources. The problem with conceding to such proposal is this, that today it is the ICTs, who know tomorrow it may be other important installations. The problem with us is that of all the ministries, the ministry of foreign affairs, too, lacks in trained and professional diplomats. Perhaps it is the weakest link in the chain. Many of its senior personnel are political appointees. Whoever is inducted into the foreign ministry, his or her main concern and interest lies in getting some assignment abroad in our missions or elsewhere more than anything else. To top it all we are unable to place or negotiate a proposal in a professional way. Very often our body language and articulation is rather poor. A classic example is the performance of the ministry relating to the saga of Yunus. There, we were like a kid fumbling with his or her food on the plate. We were like a student who came to the class room unprepared and worried as to how to face the teacher. We do have our limitations but we need not behave like novices Our diplomats lack two vital elements of diplomacy tact and skill in dealing with emerging issues between two nations. It is high time that our ministry of foreign affairs put its acts together in consultation with our policy makers. However, every effort should be made so that it has adequate freedom and independence of operations without interference. The writer can be reached at e-mail: chowdhury.shamsher@yahoo.com