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REACTIONS TO ZOELLICK'S VISIT
WB should clean its own house first before sermonising others
Faruque Ahmed
During his first visit to Bangladesh last week World Bank (WB) President Robert Bruce Zoellick remained highly occupied with comments on corruption and irregularities in the WB-funded projects. But, as he was told elsewhere, he was also advised here to reform the WB to free it from corruption and misuse of funds.
Despite talking about corruption, the WB and some other donor agencies are working as a wall between the government and the local private sector in a bid to keep the latter at bay and pave the way for the entry of multinationals in the country's strategic sectors, like mining and services, and in government procurements. And, in doing so, the bank is equally engaged in irregularities and misuse of funds and power. Zoellick's repeated pressure to give local business to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector lending window of the WB Group, speaks much about that.
Though he arrived here in a highly speculative environment suggesting he may commit to enhance financial support to Bangladesh government in the post-flood situation, the results at his departure showed nothing of this sort. He made no promise of providing any additional budgetary support as the finance adviser repeatedly referred to, at a time when the country's development targets are under tremendous pressure from the surging oil prices.
Zoellick rather advised the government to raise the domestic prices of petroleum products and the utilities to maintain macroeconomic stability and meet the growing budgetary deficit. He showed little worry about the impact of the high cost of oil and other imports on the country's development in particular and on the masses in general.
Immediately after his arrival in Dhaka, the WB chief met Finance Adviser Dr. A.B. Mirza Azizul Islam and exchanged views with him at the Planning Commission. Senior officials from both sides were present. Later, he also met Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed and Nobel laureate Dr. Mohammad Yunus and exchanged views with them to learn more about the country's economic state.
Zoellick replaced Paul Wolfwitz, who was one of the architects of the Iraq war as the US deputy secretary of defence and later became the 10th WB chief only to lose the job on charges of corruption and favouring his girl friend with a galloping pay rise. He put her on a salary packet and sent her on deputation to the state department, where her salary even surpassed the annual emolument of Secretary of States Dr. Condoleezza Rice.
R.B. Zoellick took over the WB at such a time of moral crisis when scandalous corruption cases were threatening the very integrity of the institution. So, even though he did not come out to make any commitment for fresh financial support to Bangladesh, his mind remained highly overburdened by irregularities and widespread corruption while focusing on the bank's primary targets to take over control of government procurements and achieve contracts in strategic areas of investment.
He told the media, "As you put money in, you have to deal with certain issues such as procurement policies. We don't want our money stolen and I presume you don't want our money stolen, and you have to make sure the right policy environment is set."
He further said, "We are trying to keep some rigour to make sure that the procurement, transparency and governance rules are followed properly."
When he was making these rhetoric comments and speeches, he only referred to $75 million post-flood development assistance, besides efforts to mobilise another $130 million support that the WB is trying to assemble from unused funds of different projects to make it available for post-flood rehabilitation. These offers were announced earlier and nothing new.
But when Zoellick repeatedly referred to corruption, in fact Bangladesh might have been the wrong place as far as stealing the WB money is concerned. He might have been talking of his own institution's problems, instead of making Bangladesh an undue scapegoat.
Echoing this sentiment, Mohammad Yunus rightly advised him to bring reforms in the WB in the first place to make its worldwide campaign against corruption more credible.
Yunus said, "The world has gone through so many changes over the last few decades, but the WB remained static since its establishment 60 years ago. It needs reforms and there should be a rethink of its policies."
He further said, "Within the present structure, the WB country offices are only working like post offices." The country office should be autonomous in designing policies and implementing strategies on the basis of a certain nation's needs, he said, adding, "We cannot apply the same policy in all countries."
"In reply to my question the WB president said it was one side of the thinking, but there is also a reverse side," Yunus said, revealing the WB president's reaction to his proposal.
Referring to the World Bank's campaign against corruption, a local official of the bank said, requesting not to be named, the WB was the most corrupt institution in the global scale and its officials remained instrumental in corrupting the government institutions and officials in the least developed and developing countries. So the WB should start cleaning up its own house first before trying to clean officials and institutions across the globe.
Wolfwitz's incidence was only the tip of the iceberg, he said, suggesting structural reforms at the bank and moral re-education of its staff in the changing global environment.
In Bangladesh, the WB, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the top multinational agencies engaged in lending operations have become targets of public anger. They require re-evaluation and their policies need reformulation in the respective country context, the critics said. "They are exploiters and corrupt and have been demoralising our people and ruining our institutions," said Justice Rabbani last week while announcing the formation of a people's court to try these institutions for what he said were their "anti-people and anti-national development strategies and lending policies".
According to the proponents of the people's tribunal, these institutions have become a wall between the government and the local private sector in a bid to take over the country's private sector, its mineral resources, business, and manufacturing to support the interests of their big masters who provide them with the bulk of their funds. A nation cannot grow and achieve sustainable development this way, they said on a day Zoellick was in the city.
One official said the WB president was asking the government to use the IFC more in local private sector development. The ADB vice-president during his visit to Dhaka last month had not only laid emphasis on increasing the prices of utilities but also asked the government to lease the Phulbari Coal Mine to Asia Energy. The IMF recently pressured the government to sign a policy support instrument with it, handing over the consultancy rights of framing fiscal policy to its hand. These are all anti-people stands, Rabbani said, demanding immediate reversal of the policies.
Emad Meky from Washington explains in an article how the WB has remained bogged down in widespread corruption at all levels. He writes: Over the last two years alone, the WB integrity department (INT) has investigated and closed 441 external investigations into fraud and corruption in the bank-financed projects-more than the total number of cases probed from 1999 to 2004, and during which time it has sanctioned 338 firms and individuals.
"The more recent investigations resulted in the debarment of 58 firms and 54 individuals due to fraud and corruption."
About internal corruption and fraud, he writes: INT completed 227 internal investigations involving staff misconduct over the past two fiscal years. Of these, INT substantiated the allegations made in 77 cases involving 78 staff members.
Another report showed irregularities in WB in awarding of contracts, nomination of consultants, and processing of tender documents at headquarters or regional offices to favour a group or discriminate others are on very high side.
"They ask for transparency and accountability in our cases while they violate these requirements themselves," said a government official.
The most spectacular thing is that the WB has become totally detached from the local press over the past few years, allowing room for misunderstanding from the lack of transparency of its operations here. "They used to interact with the press in the past but do not do that now. It can give rise to many speculations. And global corruption stories worry us much about our local WB office," said an observer.
He said, "Wolfwitz had initiated a long-term strategy to clean the institution, but his own conduct speaks about the fate of the drive. He himself was the number-one wrongdoer and had to quit, and it shows how far such investigation may go or how much results they can bring."
Zoellick praised the separation of the judiciary and the anti-corruption drive of the interim government to establish good governance. Here the WB has also a role to play-to help promote good projects and shelve the ones that Bangladesh does not want or part of the project components that it does not require. Moreover, it should stop creating vested interest groups within the administration and the non-governmental organisations to help the bank officials get benefited by way of kickbacks and otherwise, said a source in the caretaker government.
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US wants interim govt to hold polls soon and resign
Moinuddin Naser in New York
United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs John Gastright said the US believed the caretaker government in Bangladesh would implement the roadmap to elections to restore democracy and then it would resign.
At a programme at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation, one of the most prominent conservative think tanks of the country, Gastright said while he was in Bangladesh, the chief adviser reiterated to him that it was his intention to restore, not replace, Bangladesh's democracy, as did the chief of army staff, who said definitively that the army had no desire to get into politics and neither did he. "I'm going to pocket those commitments," the US high official said.
Gastright made the comments shortly after his visit to Bangladesh, when he had met cross-section of people there, besides the chief adviser and the army chief. Bangladesh's representative Major General Moniruzzaman and Chairman of Bangladesh caucus in the US Congress Joseph Crowley were also present at the Heritage Foundation programme.
Gastright said he was encouraged by the interim government's determination to move Bangladesh back to full democracy, eliminate cronyism, establish anti-corruption measures, build up government infrastructure, and clean up the voter lists so that the country could hold an open, transparent, fair, peaceful, and free general election and build-and this is the most important part-build foundations for a sustainable democracy in the future. "That's what I believe is in the interest of the United States and the international community, and, most importantly, the interest of the Bangladeshi people."
He said specifically, the three R's, denoting roadmap, reform, and resign, were the keys to learn the present situation in Bangladesh. The roadmap announced several months ago by the caretaker government was a step-by-step guide of what the government can and should do to take Bangladesh back to a fully democratic state.
The US agrees with the interim government that this is its responsibility and encourages it to follow the roadmap to elections as soon as possible, and then resign, Gastright announced.
He also mentioned that the Election Commission told him that it was well on schedule to start holding local body elections as early as January next year in the areas where the voter lists were already made. "But the recent announcement lifting the ban on political activities was, in my view, a half step; and I said so. In fact, I echoed the words of the chief election commissioner himself, who publicly said they should lift the ban fully. So I hope this will be achieved soon, and I said as much to the Bangladeshi media last week as well as to the caretaker."
Gastright said the second R means reform, adding, "The caretaker government has initiated a series of reforms designed to build and enhance what I call the foundations of a sustainable democracy."
He said the Anti-Corruption Commission had identified 222 corruption suspects that include political leadership and former government officials. "And I said that our position-and I reiterated this directly to the caretaker government, to the chief adviser, to the Bangladesh media-is that every accused deserves his day in court and that those trials must proceed in adherence of international standards and due process and human rights, and transparency."
"There are certainly additional reforms needed and the caretaker government has identified several, such as separation of the judiciary from the executive... The last step in the government's plan is to promote the independence of the judiciary. The caretaker government has established a Better Business Commission to hear first-hand from business leaders what needs to be done to harness the creativity and productivity of the Bangladeshi people," Gastright went on.
"They're planning comprehensive reforms in the Public Service Commission, including reconstitution of the body, to make it independent, effective, and autonomous. The intent here is to depoliticise what a lot of people believe is a politicised bureaucracy," the state department executive said, adding, "I support that goal."
According to his remarks, the US also supports an independent Human Rights Commission that includes members of the civil society. "We support this, and we're eager to see the establishment of such an institution," Gastright announced.
He said his final R was the last official act of the caretaker administration, a proof that it had kept its word to the Bangladeshi people and to the international community. "When elections have been completed, the roadmap concluded, the caretaker's constitutional responsibility is to resign," he maintained.
Gastright said he found that even after seven months the interim government still enjoyed the strong support of Bangladeshi civil society, yet the passing of time could foster doubts and concerns. "In August, you all know that the country erupted into violent protests. The caretaker government with the support of the military imposed a curfew throughout the country, and the quick action restored order. But the violence that precipitated the curfew served as a wakeup call for the regime and its supporters," he pointed out.
He said the August demonstrations showed what could happen when legitimate means of expressing grievances "are unavailable to a population worried about price increases of basic commodities, energy shortages, and the effects of devastating floods. I'm heartened by the indicators of progress since the August demonstrations and the increased outreach by the caretaker to the Bangladeshi population."
According to Gastright, Washington believes the Bangladeshi people have a bright future ahead. The US will continue to work with the Bangladeshi people and the caretaker government as they move through this important transition. Free, credible, transparent, and non-violent elections that happen as soon as possible are critical to strengthening democracy and promoting prosperity, and in making the caretaker government's vision of a strengthened and prosperous Bangladesh a reality.
Replying to a question about the politics of Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, Gastright said, "My understanding is that the Jamaat party receives about five to seven per cent votes in Bangladesh. They are citizens of Bangladesh and therefore they are representing the interests of those who voted for that party. There are parts of its ideology that we don't support. We've been public about that. We urged the party to moderate its views, to be part of the world community. The leaders of that party, whom I've had the opportunity to speak with, have indicated it is their desire to be part of the democratic process."
Responding to another query about the diminishing popularity of the caretaker government, he said there was no doubt that the caretaker's popularity had slipped. "My understanding from polling was that after 1/11 it was about 96 per cent. It has clearly slipped since then and that's reality."
"One of the things that I think the caretaker needs to do, something that the caretaker government said they were going to do when I spoke to them," is that they desperately need to communicate directly to the Bangladeshi people what their vision is for the future, Gastright said, adding, "I suggested as much to the caretaker government."
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An HIV/AIDS epidemic looms large
Abdur Rahman Khan
Although the overall Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection rates are still low, Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to an HIV/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) epidemic due to the prevalence of certain behavioural patterns and risk factors.
A looming HIV epidemic is apparent from the rapidly rising rates of HIV/AIDS prevalence among the high risk groups, including sex workers, injecting drug users (IDUs), and men having sex with men. For example, in a pocket of central Bangladesh, the HIV prevalence rate among the IDUs jumped from 1.4 per cent to 4 per cent to 8.9 per cent in just a three-year period.
According to the latest information available with the National AIDS/STD Programme (NASP), a cumulative total of 874 cases of HIV/AIDS were confirmed as of December 31, 2006. While the government agencies concerned estimate nearly 7,500 people are now infected with HIV/AIDS, donor agencies including the UNAIDS put the figure at around 11,000.
Dr. Yasmin Jahan, a consultant of the NASP, told Holiday that 216 new cases of HIV/AIDS were detected in 2006, with 106 confirmed cases of AIDS. The year saw 35 deaths from AIDS in the country, she said.
A government survey found that 39.35 per cent of the 216 new HIV-positive cases identified last year were unemployed people, followed by housewives accounting for 21.29 per cent and businessmen 10.18 per cent. The data indicates unemployment is also a major cause of the spread of HIV/AIDS.
According to a World Health Organisation report, Bangladesh is still considered a low HIV/AIDS prevalent country. The WHO estimates there are 13,000 HIV-positive people in the country and the HIV prevalence among the adult population is less than 0.01 per cent.
However, the country's vulnerability to an epidemic is critically high as according to the findings of National HIV Surveillance the rate of HIV infection among the street-based sex workers in central Bangladesh is higher than that among the sex workers in other parts of South Asia.
There are more than 105,000 sex workers, both female and male, in the country. On an average, a brothel-based female sex worker reportedly serve around 18 clients a week, a street-based sex worker 17, and a hotel-based sex worker as many as 44 clients.
The majority of brothel-based sex workers report having sex without using condoms with some of their clients. Country-wide, the brothel-based sex workers report consistent condom use with 2.8 per cent of their regular clients and 5.2 per cent with new clients. Of the clients, who include rickshaw-pullers and truckers, only 1.5 to 4.6 per cent report to have consistently used condoms when having sex with female sex workers.
In central Bangladesh 9.7 per cent and in south-eastern Bangladesh 12 per cent female sex workers have been found to be infected with syphilis. The high rates of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) confirm the low rate of condom use and the presence of other risky sexual behaviours that facilitate the spread of HIV infection.
According to experts, the level of HIV infection among the IDUs poses a significant risk, as it can spread rapidly within the group and then through their sexual partners and the latter's clients among the general population.
Another major concern is the significant number of IDUs who sell their blood professionally. Bangladesh relies on professional blood-sellers to meet most of the blood transfusion needs of its people.
Lack of proper knowledge on HIV/AIDS is another high-risk factor. Only 17 per cent of the most-at-risk groups have correct knowledge about prevention of the disease and most people have misconceptions about it. A baseline survey of adolescents and young people (15-24 years) in 2005 found that only one out of three males in urban and one out of four in rural areas had correct knowledge on HIV/AIDS. Nearly 59 per cent of the married women and 42 per cent of men of the age group of 15-54 years have no idea about how to avoid HIV.
It is urgently needed to lay emphasis on education, poverty alleviation, and regular media coverage for disseminating knowledge about HIV/AIDS and to offer sex education to the adolescents and the young under an academic programme, suggested Mohammad Shafiqur Rahman and Mohammad Lutfor Rahman, researchers at the Dhaka University Institute of Statistical Research and Training.
Meanwhile, an initiative has been taken to develop a multi-sector response to HIV/AIDS. Strategic action plans of the NASP set forth specific guidelines on a range of HIV issues, including testing, care, blood safety, and preventive measures for youth, women, migrant workers, and commercial sex workers.
The government also prepared a National Strategic Plan for combating HIV/AIDS for the period of 2004-2010 under the guidance of the National AIDS Council and with the involvement and support of different stakeholders. Efforts to mainstream HIV/AIDS in public sectors outside the health and family welfare ministry were initiated through designation and training of focal points on HIV/AIDS at 16 government ministries.
One of the major projects under the NASP is the HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, financed by $19.22 million credit from the International Development Association of the World Bank Group, a $6.38 million grant made by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and $0.63 million pitched in by the government. The project was scheduled to end in June 2006 but the fund-providers agreed to extend it for 18 more months to December 2007. More than 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are implementing the project.
Infection Diseases Hospital at Mohakhali provides treatment to HIV/AIDS patients, who also can get services at discount from the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University and the Armed Forces Pathology. The government also has established voluntary counselling and testing centres in every district and upazila.
More than 380 NGOs, AIDS service organisations, and civil society bodies have been implementing various programmes/projects across the country to contain the menace. These initiatives are focused on prevention of sexual transmission of the virus among the high-risk groups. There are also some self-help groups providing counselling and financial helps to HIV-positive patients.
The DFID, United States Agency for International Development, Swedish International Development Agency, and Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit of Germany are financing a number of HIV/AIDS control activities in Bangladesh. These include a social marketing programme, peer education and condom promotion activities, information, education, and communication efforts, sexually transmitted infection treatment, surveillance and operational research, and capacity building of NGOs.
"Currently we are in the process of evaluating the performance of different NGOs in terms of utilisation of donors' funding and progress towards their targets," said Dr SM Mustafa Anwar, line director of the NASP.
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Long-standing plot to split BNP may make a killing
Shamsuddin Ahmed
The discreet attempt to annihilate the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) may be culminated at a split of the party in the absence of its chairperson Khaleda Zia, who is detained on corruption charge.
Many in the BNP including some dismayed senior leaders said the attempt was launched right after their victory with an overwhelming majority in the 2001 elections. Indian intelligence agency deployed its moles inside the party. They pampered the Young Turks in the BNP with the luxurious baths that youngsters are fond of. Soon the Young Turks rose to a height from where they used to run a parallel administration. This situation had come to such a pass that people were openly contemplating that Tarique Rahman was going to replace his mother Khaleda Zia, who would become the president of the republic.
A former university teacher close to Khaleda told this correspondent that he and some others had informed her about the speculations. She felt rather gratified. It is unfortunate for the nationalist elements in the BNP. Khaleda either lacked foresightedness or political wisdom had deserted her. She failed to grasp the design of the Indian intelligence agency and to read the writing on the wall as well.
That the Indian intelligence agency had slithered into the BNP to destroy the party was also communicated by certain quarters to the relevant government authorities. K.A. Haq of Khelafat Andolan is one who in a fax message in August 2005 said: "......Tarique's business partner Mr Mamoon and his associate Mr Ashik Islam are instruments of Indian intelligence to guide Tarique in line with the Indian intelligence agenda." The fax also landed in some news offices.
The extent of damage inflicted to the BNP through the Young Turks came clear when the party was out of power. Prominent ministers, party lawmakers, and activists accused of corruption and criminal charges were thrown behind bars much to the joy of the planners of undoing the rising nationalist force. The forces inimical to the BNP have not stopped there. They have driven in a red-hot wedge to divide the party, which we all see today.
Needless to say that the process of split in the BNP began with the expulsion of secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan by the all-powerful party chairperson just before her going to prison. That gave rise to her opponents as the reformist group with blessings of the administration. The Election Commission invited them to a dialogue on electoral reforms, prompting noisy and loud protests from Brigadier (rtd) Hannan Shah, adviser to party chairperson Khaleda Zia.
Chief Election Commissioner Dr Huda explained the reason for inviting the reformists to the dialogue with "doctrine of necessity". His argument may have logic but the action has undoubtedly made the Election Commission controversial.
Worse and painful was the incident near the grave of Ziaur Rahman on Wednesday. Some senior leaders of the reformist group were assaulted and humiliated by BNP activists opposed to them. Lt General (rtd) Mahbubur Rahman said he did not mind much the assault for 'it is the culture of Bangladesh politics'. But this culture had never in the past afflicted the BNP. Is it the way of following the ideology of Ziaur Rahman and honouring his soul on the anniversary of the auspicious day on which he had saved the nation by uniting the people and the sepoys for a revolution?
Nevertheless some analysts say it will not be easy to defeat the nationalist forces. People still hope of emergence of a leader in the absence of Khaleda Zia. Realisation will ultimately dawn among the BNP rank and file. They must forsake the personality cult and bury petty differences for the greater interest of the nation. "It will not be a surprise if the nationalist forces rise in revolt, if the leaders fail," observed an elderly politician, requesting not to be named.
Any one trying to figure out the political and economic scenario of Bangladesh today will find it grim. Major political parties are rudderless, people are groaning under spiralling prices of essentials, business community is yet to regain confidence, government expenditure is increasing but income growth is declining, and controversy is growing about the neutrality of the government as well as the Election Commission.
A premonition of Election Commissioner Brigadier (rtd) Sakhawat Hossain is quite significant. Interrupting a lengthy discourse of Awami League acting President Zillur Rahman during a dialogue on electoral reforms on Sunday Sakhawat said, "Being an expert, I can see a patch of black cloud at the Ishan Kone, but I don't want to tell more about that."
It is obvious Sakhawat pointed to the prospect of the elections promised by the interim government by the end of next year.
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Hannan held for 'engineering' assault on ex-army chief
Special Correspondent
Adviser to the BNP chairperson Brigadier (rtd) Hannan Shah, a virulent critic of the party's reformist group, was arrested Wednesday midnight at his Old DOHS residence. The police took him straight to Cantonment Police Station.
The Tejgaon police said Shah was arrested on charge of violating the Emergency Powers Rules.
The action against Shah was widely being speculated during the day. The reformist group of the party complained that it was he who engineered the attack on some senior leaders, including Lt General (rtd) Mahbubur Rahman. A group of BNP activists belonging to the Shah group physically assaulted him and chased others when they were leaving after laying wreaths at the grave of Ziaur Rahman in the morning.
Shah had been virtually the lone voice against the reformists. Pointing finger at the administration, he said a small group in the BNP was being favoured to destroy the party. He has been insisting on the demand for withdrawing the invitation sent by the Election Commission to the Saifur-Hafiz group to a dialogue on electoral reforms on November 22. He has also threatened to challenge the EC action in the High Court if the invitation is not withdrawn.
Political circles will now eagerly wait to see who among the Khaleda's favourites fills the vacuum created by the arrest of Shah. Khandker Delwar Hossain, appointed party secretary general by Khaleda Zia, has been suffering from acute diabetes. He is not physically fit enough to carry out the tasks the office demands. Critics say, the arrest of Shah is seen as silencing the dissident voice. Certain quarters may hope that the dissidents would be gradually won over by the reformist group.
An early release of Shah from the police custody is unlikely. He was arrested earlier, long before the division in the party became officially acknowledged, in an extortion case in his Kapasia constituency. He came out of prison after about one and a half months securing bail from the High Court.
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WB needs to change its work method
Mohammad A. Sattar
The short visit that World Bank (WB) President Robert Zoellick paid to Dhaka last week deserves attention as the WB and Bangladesh has been working closely for many years now. Although the relation between the two sides may not have been smooth all the time, it still continued to grow.
One can say without hesitation that the multilateral lending agency has assisted Bangladesh in many of its development projects, but the conditions imposed on us sometimes were too burdensome. It seems the way the bank has been running its operations requires a thorough review. Its decades-old approaches and solutions will not work effectively in the present global scenario as it did even a few years back. An institution of its nature has to be more specific than following a 'random solution method'. It is but natural that it should have a more focused team to work separately with each member country and provide continuous feedback to the WB authorities who decide the funding. It should categorise more precisely the character of economy of each country and prioritise their needs, and come up with acceptable, if not perfect, solutions.
It was good to see Zoellick in a positive mood in talking to the media in Dhaka. He agreed that the WB, like any other institution, also needed to be changed. He however also stressed the need for transparency, fund protection, and good governance. Here, we emphasise continuous dialogue or exchange of views between the WB and the press of the member country as this will certainly help resolve important issues.
All said and done, the Bangladesh economy needs to have a character and definition. It is still far from being a free market economy. Even after decades of opportunity, we have not been able to make our economy self-sufficient or self-dependent. Rather, the involvement, and thus the dictation, of the lending institutions have increased manifold. Every year we have to have a large chunk of foreign aid to aid our national budget. The practice of borrowing has taken a permanent shape with no sign of subsiding.
The WB and other lenders are all guided by their own policies, and they will not let us work according to our sweet will. Among many reasons of us not getting a free hand on their funds is the unbridled financial mismanagement. We would have been in a better bargaining position if we had our house fixed. Until that happens, we can hardly expect any body to listen to our genuine grievances.
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THE NEW REPUBLIC SAYS
US needs to abandon Musharraf now
Joshua Kurlantzick
The declared state of emergency in Pakistan last weekend led to widespread chaos: Police and paramilitary forces swarmed to arrest opposition politicians, the government shut down all independent media, and Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf fired the independent justices on the country's Supreme Court just as they were set to release rulings that most likely would've stripped him of his power. The Bush administration, as it had to, quickly condemned the situation. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Musharraf to make a "prompt return to constitutional course," though the White House just as quickly assured Musharraf it would not cut off his counterterrorism aid.
But the time for mere condemnation is over. It's time for America to cut the cord on Musharraf and throw in entirely with the country's democratic forces. The Bush administration has repeatedly called for elections in Pakistan, and Musharraf has ignored it. The administration has funneled gargantuan sums of money to Pakistan-over $10 billion since the 9/11 attacks- and Musharraf has misspent that. Despite some initial, post-9/11 victories against extremists near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Musharraf has allowed radical movements in Pakistan to multiply, while stifling the change Pakistan truly needs: the development of a new generation of democratic-minded leaders that would challenge the generals and corrupt old politicians for power.
As the Washington Post reported earlier this year, although Musharraf vowed in 2006 to launch a campaign against terrorism in his country, Al Qaeda- and Taliban-linked groups are as strong as ever-and they have the new training camps, operation centers, and fund-raising programs along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to prove it. By July 2007, Frances Fragos Townsend, the White House's homeland security advisor, admitted that the general's supposed campaign "hasn't worked for Pakistan. It hasn't worked for the United States." In fact, Musharraf has an ignominious history of emboldening radicals in his country, whether it's by working with them to ensure support for his rule in 2002; signing a deal with local chieftains in 2006 that allowed militants more room to operate in the country's tribal regions; or by harshly repressing demands for greater autonomy in the province of Balochistan, a move which has sparked local anger at the government and is threatening to provoke an all-out insurgency in the area.
The general has also made little effort to emphasise that terror truly threatens Pakistan, and thus that Washington is not forcing antiterrorism operations on him. By comparison, in Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has highlighted the danger of terrorism to his country and overseen round-ups of some of Southeast Asia's most dangerous terrorists. In Pakistan, even after all the American aid, only 27 per cent of Pakistanis had a favorable opinion of the United States according to a Pew Global Attitudes Poll last year and the counterterrorism battle is still viewed in Pakistan as Washington's war. $10 billion used to buy you a lot more.
Yet, through it all, Washington has continued to back Musharraf-perhaps, in part, because President Bush seems to have made a personal bond. As Derek Chollet and Craig Cohen note in a recent article in the Washington Quarterly, President Bush announced last year: "When [Musharraf] looks me in the eye and says there won't be a Taliban and won't be Al Qaeda, I believe him." (Of course, Bush's personal radar isn't exactly foolproof-he also looked into Vladimir Putin's soul and saw an ally who wanted a "constructive relationship" with America. Whoops.)
Meanwhile, years of a political vacuum under Musharraf meant that young Pakistani democrats, exactly the type of people the country needs to escape its feudal past, could not organise or build grassroots movements. When Musharraf finally agreed to allow greater political freedoms this year, the only politicians who could move into the vacuum were two feudal dinosaurs, former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. Neither are paragons of democracy: Under Bhutto, Pakistan suffered an endemic of extrajudicial executions and torture, while Sharif was dismissed as prime minister for alleged massive corruption.
So, while Sharif's and Bhutto's core supporters welcomed them back to Pakistan after years of political exile, many average Pakistanis grew more disillusioned, seeing their only choice as one between the cynical Sharif, the craven Bhutto, and the army. These feelings of marginalisation and disconnect from politics have left many average Pakistanis with nowhere to turn but to extremist groups. Emergency rule will only strengthen this alienation, probably leading to confrontation with the military and more crackdowns on the public.
When faced with past choices about whether to support Musharraf, American officials had to consider whether an alternative would be worse. Today, a realistic alternative would not be. For all their street noise and violence, radical Islamist groups in Pakistan have never won more than a small sliver of the vote, and aren't likely to anytime soon. Pakistan's nuclear program is under a tight command, and Musharraf's downfall likely would not compromise it. As a recent analysis of Pakistani nukes by the Stimson Center showed, "The installations that house Pakistan's nuclear weapons and fissile material, as would be expected, are heavily guarded and among the most secure facilities in all of Pakistan." The article went on to note that Pakistan has actually been through worse unrest in the past without compromising its nukes.
By supporting a return to democracy in Pakistan and cutting links to Musharraf, the US would run the risk of another term of Bhutto's leadership, and possibly further corruption and misrule. But at least democracy under Bhutto, as opposed to martial rule under Musharraf, would provide more space for new political voices that might someday challenge older leaders, reform Pakistani politics, and siphon potential voters from radical Islamist parties. After all, past eras of civilian rule featured vibrant political battles in Islamabad.
Even better, Pakistan might come to resemble Indonesia, where Yudhoyono, coming off a popular mandate in 2004, could openly proclaim his fight against homegrown terrorism without looking like a stooge for the Bush administration. With greater popular legitimacy, a new Pakistani leader could make a more effective case to the public about why terror threatens them as well.
The benefits of a real return to democracy don't stop there. It would allow Pakistan to rebuild other institutions, like its hobbled court system and its once vibrant, independent media. Democracy might also halt the military's growing domination of Pakistani business and civil service. Under Musharraf, the military has spread its tentacles into private enterprise, decreasing opportunity for average Pakistanis and giving them more incentive to turn to extremism.
Perhaps most important to the US, though, throwing in with democracy would vastly improve America's image in Pakistan, where a majority of respondents in one recent poll cited free elections, free press, and an independent judiciary as their number one priority, and where average people have learned, through sorry experience, that Washington will stand by the general no matter how badly he missteps. Perhaps for a change, the Bush administration could surprise them. After years of the status quo in Pakistan, Washington needs to consider its other options.
Joshua Kurlantzick is a special correspondent for The New Republic .
© The New Republic 2007
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GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT
Mikhail Gorbachev
K. Z. Islam
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931- ) was quite a brilliant student as was Raisa his wife who Mikhail had met in college. Raisa being fluent in English translated many English books for the ambitious 'Misha' as she called him. In June 1955 they both graduated from college and got married. Returning to Stavrapol, Mikhail's native province in the Caucasus where he began working for the communist party as a youth organizer. The self confident Raisa began working on a doctoral degree in Psychology, which she completed in 1967. At the same time, Mikhail also took a second degree, this one in agricultural planning, his first degree being in law.
Mikhail came to rely on Raisa's advice and her ability to make a favourable impression on crowds, especially later, in their overseas travels. Always confident of himself, Gorbachev made no secret of the fact that his wife was one-quarter Jewish.
Gorbachev rose rapidly through the ranks in the Communist Party gaining attention of Mikhail Suslov, who eventually rose to high office in the government of Premier Leonid Brezhnev - Head of State in the Soviet Union for many years. With the help of Suslov and Andropov, Chairman of KGB Misha became a member of the Politburo. In 1982 Brezhnev passed away with Andropov replacing him as a Secretary General of the Communist Party. Both Andropov and his successor Chernenko died in succession and in 1985 Gorbachev found himself to be the General Secretary of the Communist Party in March 1985.
On assuming supreme power in the Soviet Union, Gorbachev quickly realised that USSR could not match the rapid development of armaments by NATO. He understood unless truly drastic action was taken the USSR could not hope to hold its position alongside the US as one the world's two leading powers.
First, Gorbachev moved to change things at home, opening the Soviet Union up to contact with the outside world after many years of isolation. He allowed citizens to read books that had been banned. He allowed criticism of Communist party officials to appear in Soviet newspapers. He even allowed Soviet television coverage of life in the wealthy United States.
To describe the new "openness" in Soviet life, Gorbachev used the Russian world glasnost.
Along with glasnotst, Gorbachev also moved quickly to change the Soviet economy and Soviet politics. He called those changes perestroika. First, he introduced to the agricultural system of the USSR the idea of privately owned farms run for a profit. In industries, he encouraged the idea of paying more to those workers who produced more.
Meanwhile, he set free from prison such well-known critics of the Soviet government as Anatoly Scharansky and Andrei Sakharov. Thousands of other political prisoners still suffered in Soviet jails, but at least Gorbachev had shown his willingness to risk personal freedom for a few.
Before long, Gorbachev's ideas caught on in the Soviet satellite empire. They were greeted with special relief in those countries of Eastern Europe threatened before by almost certain Soviet invasion for daring to disobey. In 1989, freedom movements swept like wildfire through the satellite states - Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria, East Germany.
Then, in the autumn of 1989, one of the greatest symbols of previous Soviet tyranny - the Berlin Wall - came tumbling down. At a rate of more than two thousand people per day, East Germans poured into West Germany, to freedom.
Remarkably, the Soviet Union itself did virtually nothing to halt the crumbling of its world empire built up at such great cost over so many years. Instead, to the wonder of most, the leading figure in the Communist empire openly applauded what he called perestroika, or the restructuring of the international community. In time, that leader predicted, the entire world would became a place of peace, governed by "reason and logic" in place of war. "Neighborly relations, openness, and mutual trust," he said, "would replace brutal instincts" and aggressiveness until, finally, there would be "universal security" for all the "peoples and governments of our planet."
The man who uttered those words was Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the USSR, as he accepted the Nobel Prize for Peace in December 1990.
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India's Myanmar policy sparks hitch
Nava Thakuria in Guwahati
The sudden spurt of conflicts in Myanmar has put New Delhi in a difficult phase of challenges. After inviting harsh criticism from the international community for insisting on engaging the brutal military junta, the Indian government finds it tricky to deal with the growing public resentment in its alienated northeast region, which has been a breeding ground of separatists since the days of India's independence.
The northeast region of India, comprising eight states with unique cultures and traditions, nurtures nearly 30 insurgent groups who are fighting New Delhi with demands ranging from autonomy to self-rule. Surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, the region has land connectivity to the mainland India through only three per cent of its total boundary line.
More significantly, the region was never a part of ancient or medieval India, neither during Emperor Ashok's period nor in the Mughal era. The region came under British rule following the Yandabu Agreement in 1826 and thus became a part of the Indian territory for the first time. The public resentment against New Delhi in the northeast is usually high as the indigenous people strongly believe that the union government only exploits the region. New Delhi keeps an eye on the oil, coal, tea, and forest resources but always lends a deaf ear to the perennial and burning problems of the under-developed region.
New Delhi has created a separate ministry for the region, the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, and now claims that the region will be transformed into a business hub once its Look East policy gains momentum. Moreover, the region is offered a sea port under the million-dollar Kaladan project, under which a port is planned at Sittwe on the Arakan coast, connected to the bordering Mizoram state. The Indo-Myanmar gas pipeline, though now put on ice (particularly after Bangladesh showed reluctance in allowing the pipeline to go through its territory), was also once projected as a big opportunity for the people of the northeast.
Everything had been going well, with New Delhi succeeding to a large extent in convincing the region's civil society of the benefits of its 'pro-northeast' policies, until the sudden uprising in Myanmar turned the tables. In the changed circumstances, the union government noticed a fresh factor further fuelling the long-standing anti-New Delhi sentiments in the region. The government has already invited critical comments from the western world for its indifference to the crackdown on pro-democratic forces in Myanmar. But a bigger challenge has surfaced in the northeast, where public meetings, rallies and other demonstrations have been condemning the military rulers of Myanmar and expressing support for the democracy icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
At a recent conference in Manipur, a state bordering Myanmar, it was unanimously decided to extend support to the peoples of Myanmar in their struggle for democracy. Organised by the Naga Peoples' Movement for Human Rights on October 13 at Ukhrul, the conference, attended by different social organisations, representatives from churches, and non-governmental organisations and institutions, also called upon the Myanmar junta to resolve the long-pending issues in a democratic and peaceful way. Earlier on October 2, the state witnessed a solidarity meeting, which strongly urged New Delhi to cancel all engagements with the junta.
More recently, thousands of Christians in Manipur joined in a prayer campaign for freedom of the people and democracy in Myanmar. Organised on October 21 by the Myanmar Christians Fellowships, which comprises Myanmar Christians in exile, it expressed solidarity with Suu Kyi and prayed for the release of all political prisoners including her.
Earlier on October 6, civil society groups of Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Assam observed Global Day of Action for a Free Myanmar through various programmes. The simultaneous demonstrations in these states highlighted the common concern for the agitating monks and peaceful protestors who were brutally suppressed by the military rulers of Myanmar.
Nearly 20,000 people assembled at Mawphlang, near Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya, and urged New Delhi to intervene in the Myanmar crisis and apply diplomatic pressures on the junta for beginning a dialogue with the democratic forces.
In Nagaland, another state bordering Myanmar, the indigenous people brought out a rally, demanding tough actions against the military junta.
Similarly, in Assam, hundreds of people participated in a candle light vigil, expressing solidarity with the struggling Myanmar people. Organised by the North East Peoples' Initiative, the programme spread the message of support to Suu Kyi, who has been living under house arrest for the last four years in Yangon.
Likewise, the Mizoram Committee for Democracy in Burma urged New Delhi to adopt a proactive role to persuade the Myanmar rulers to embrace democracy. At a press meet at the Mizoram capital of Aizawl on October 20, the committee said it wanted to see democracy in Myanmar.
Sanjib Barua, who comes from the northeast and teaches at the Bard College, New York, argues that it is time for India to take a long-term view and rethink its Myanmar policy. "It's in a good position to take the leadership in a global initiative to bring about a political transition in Myanmar. That would enable India to side with the forces of Myanmar's future," Barua, also an eminent writer, asserted.
India's security concerns that compelled New Delhi to maintain strategic ties with the junta are also misplaced, argues Suhas Chakma, director of the Asian Centre for Human Rights. He pointed out that the Indo-Myanmar border with its series of hills and thick forests remained a difficult terrain to patrol, adding, "What may be surprising for every one, the Myanmar army and northeastern insurgents live in cooperation there."
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