Bangladesh
Bangladesh | Democracy Stable democracy has helped Bangladesh move ahead of India and Pakistan: Chicago Tribune
Dhaka, April 20: According to a professor at St. Xavier's University in Chicago, USA, Bangladesh's stable democracy and strong women's leadership have propelled the country far ahead of neighboring India and Pakistan, leaving Bangladeshis in a much better position economically than ever before.
Dean Faisal Rahman, professor and founder of The Graham School of Management at St. Xavier's University, said in an opinion column published in the prestigious US daily Chicago Tribune on April 18 that a stable democracy as well as strong women's leadership has helped Bangladesh reach this stage. High rates of investment in women's education and women's participation in the workforce have helped Bangladesh to surpass India and Pakistan in terms of per capita income and growth.
Professor Faisal said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has proved to be a strong administrative leader in the mold of Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore.
He said Bangladesh is now on the path to becoming a middle-income country - which proves that Kissinger's idea of Bangladesh's economic viability and sustainability was wrong. In fact, Bangladesh is moving towards becoming the next Asian economic 'tiger'.
Mentioning that Bangladesh celebrated the 51st anniversary of its independence on March 26, he said that Bangladesh had slammed former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's statement calling the country a "bottomless basket" or "an endless charity case". The United States backed the then-military dictators, who imprisoned elected representatives and waged a war of terror to intimidate and subjugate the people.
When Bangladesh was formed, it was in a terrible state. The country was one of the most densely populated in the world and the poorest in every economic index. He noted that the war had destroyed the country's economic infrastructure, adding that the country had no industrial base and no entrepreneurial class. During the monsoon season, about two-thirds of the country was regularly submerged.
To make matters worse, the retreating Pakistani army picked up and killed the country's top intellectuals two to three days before the surrender. He said that they could not destroy the consciousness of Bangladeshis as is being displayed by the heroic people of Ukraine today.
He said the Bangladeshis had not only defeated the Pakistani army with the help of India, but also thwarted repeated attempts to destroy its new democracy.
