SENT TO SAAG ON 13.05.2009

   IS DEVELOPMENT A SISYPHUS IN SOUTH ASIA

By Kazi Anwarul Masud (former Secretary and ambassador of Bangladesh)

When Bangladesh society was seemingly becoming schizophrenic, the government and the opposition divide, despite the hug between the present and the past Prime Ministers at the tragic demise of the husband of Sheikh Hasina, is yet to show compassion in policies and practice, distributive justice is yet to come to fruition and  inequality in income distribution between the rich and the poor, if sale of cars is to be taken as a barometer, then the inequality  has not decreased, it is difficult to state that  we are out of the woods on the economic front even during the period of global recession.  Without compensatory increase in real income the disposable income of the general masses is yet to increase. Toll extortion from transport ferrying goods from one part of the country to another coupled with alleged “tax” paid to law enforcement authorities continue and as a result  the price of goods, particularly of the essentials, are yet to show signs of coming down.   Since the rich as a group is generally associated with conspicuous consumption of goods any increase in the price of essentials, which may be substantial relative to the income of a middle income group, they remain unaffected. Similarly the ultra-poor remains unaffected by price increase because price of goods is in any case beyond the purchasing capacity of these people .Despite the availability of coarse rice within the income range of the middle class and the government’s decision to reactivate the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, the government could perhaps, consider  whether price determination, defined as “the method used by a market or administrators to fix a price” could be availed of. Increasingly it is being accepted that some important prices are not determined in the market by demand and supply but by herd instinct, negotiations, domination (by illegal forces in countries like Bangladesh, power and speculation. Our authorities could emulate the British practiced of (1973-80) administering price policy applying rules of a price code enforced most rigorously particularly against cartels which had to gain approval in advance for price increase? The French had similar policies in the 1950s and 1960s. The British also had legalized price ceilings as Rent Act to help the low income households. Our authorities could also take note of price discrimination in the form of charging different prices to different customers for the same product or setting different prices for different quantities of the same product. Free market advocates would argue against state intervention so that economic activities can follow their natural course without governmental regulations in order to encourage production and give consumers complete freedom. But with increasing complexities in state and international economies the number of adherents of laissez-faire doctrine has shrunk. The recession ridden global economy is unlikely to come to our rescue and the tradition of tax evasion being firmly rooted in our psyche mobilization of domestic resources may not be adequate. Chrsi Sciabarra (of New York University- A Crisis of Political Economy-30.04.2009) writes “there is no free market. There is no laissez-faire capitalism. The government has been deeply involved in setting the parameters for market relations for eons…Real, actual, historically specific “capitalism” has always entailed the intervention of the state. And that intervention always had a class character; that is, the actions of the state have always benefited and must always some at the expense of the other”.

  Perfect competition in the market in the classical sense does not exist (certainly not in Bangladesh) with a large number of buyers and sellers engaged in trading homogeneous products with a perfectly elastic supply of factors of production. Since unfortunately the world is filled with Hobbesian human beings basically self-interested and seeking gain and glory state intervention in controlling sky rocketing of price has become a moral and political necessity. Even if Bangladeshis are asked to accept the First Principles of the Scottish philosopher Robert Owen that it is necessary for the large part of humanity to live in poverty and ignorance to secure for the remaining part such degree of happiness which they currently enjoy, the authorities can not evade their responsibility to ensure the basic needs of the people. Added to these difficulties Bangladesh authorities have to deal with the aftermath of the August 17^th country wide bombing carnage. The daily reports emanating from investigations by our intelligence and law enforcement authorities unmistakably point to a link between the bombers and the Islamic extremists in the country. Dr. Sudha Ramchandaran (The Threat of Islamic Extremism in Bangladesh- PINR- 27.07.05) alleges that Bangladesh government’s relaxed approach to the issue of Islamic extremism “could enhance Bangladesh’s attractiveness as a haven for terrorists fleeing counter terrorism operations elsewhere”. She finds faults with the open courting of Islamic fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami by successive Bangladeshi governments, its inclusion in the coalition government which has given encouragement to radical Islamic groups, insurgents from north East Indian states finding sanctuary in Bangladesh, and alleged cooperation between Pakistani ISI and Bangladeshi intelligence as contributing factors to the rise of Islamic extremism in Bangladesh. On the other hand Sree Radha Dutta makes the point that after seceding from West Pakistan Bengali nationalism lost its relevance and the dividing line once again has moved back to religion. Now Bangladesh must differentiate itself not from West Pakistan but from West Bengal. Therefore successive Bangladesh governments have been embracing Islamic symbolism “and once again Islam emerged as the national identity”. Quoting Rohan Gunaratna (Inside al-Qaeda:Global Network of Terror) Sreeradha Dutta alleges that the February 23, 1988 “Declaration of Jihad against Jews and Crusaders” by Osama bin Laden was also signed by Fazlur Rahman, the head of the Harkat-ul-Jehad- e- Islami(HUJI) of Bangladesh which has emerged as collaborator of al-Qaeda operations in Bangladesh. The emergence of communal divide leading to social fragmentation and alienation of the minority community may contribute to the deepening of political instability, problems of governance, Islamization, dangers of extremism and lack of social cohesion. While comments by Indian scholars are sometimes taken with a grain of salt in some quarters in Bangladesh the demarche to Condoleeza Rice by Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry among others urging her to advise then  President Bush to raise in the recently held UN Summit the issue of political violence in Bangladesh is a serious matter. The reaction of then Bangladesh authorities to treat this as an internal communication between the US Congress and the US administration would have been laughable had the matter not been pregnant with serious possible consequences. Kennedys and Kerrys are heavyweights and are unlikely to sign on a petition just to humor a few constituents as has been argued by some apologists of then ruling party. With reduced significance of the Westphalian concept of sovereignty the US legislators’ fear of “Bangladesh becoming a failed state and a base of operation for international terrorist organizations” prompted them to make recommendations which are inherently intrusive and under ordinary circumstances   would have been rejected out of hand. But the terrorists’ attacks of 9/11 have taught the Americans the necessity of looking closely into the affairs of geographically distant lands. The West is particularly worried about the instructions given to students in religious schools (the number of such schools is said to be sixty four thousand in Bangladesh) at the expense of secular education. The West’s worry stems from the fact that the dreaded Taliban were products of madrashas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. These schools, observes Joseph Schatz, “sometimes teach extremists, anti-Western curriculums and have been identified as recruiting bases for Taliban type movements”. Funded by Middle Eastern sources for decades many of these religious schools are now financially independent which perhaps has caused Pakistan government’s efforts to register these schools to falter .The 9/11 Commission Report recommended a long term US commitment to provide comprehensive support for Pakistan including in the area of improving education. Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world that spends less than 2% of its GNP on education. Pakistani example has a direct relevance for Bangladesh for the following reasons:- (a) after Pakistan Bangladesh is the third largest Muslim country in the world, (b) if the number of madrashas in Pakistan is more than one hundred thousand it is sixty four thousand in Bangladesh and the character of these madrashas are not significantly different, (c)in both countries the pupils(Taliban) are easily indoctrinated and turned into fanatics, (d) the students are given military training for Jihad initially ostensibly to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan and later for the “freedom” of the Kashmiris while in Bangladesh as the August 17^th investigations continue to reveal the Islamic extremists’ aim was to establish an Islamic theocratic state in Bangladesh. As the Brussels based International Crisis Group observes the choice that Pakistan faces is not between the military and the mullahs, as is generally believed in the West, it is between genuine democracy and the military-mullah alliance that is responsible for producing Islamic extremism currently in the form of vicious sectarian killings. And if Tanzibul Ikhwan leader Maulana Mohammad Akram’s threatened march on Islamabad last December ( government’s response was to placate him as he has reportedly considerable influence among middle ranking army officers) is any indication, Pakistan is yet far removed from acquiring even a tepid form of secular government The ongoing armed struggle between the Taliban and the Pakistan army, displacing half a million people from Swat valley to comparatively safer areas, presumably at the attests to the strengthening of the Taliban stronghold in Pakistan New York Times(11^th may 2009)reported that that a truck filled with explosives struck by a CIA missile in South Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold, was an indication of the renewed capability of the Taliban of acquisition of strength in aid of militant Islamism in Pakistan. The Taliban is also on the roll to recoup  the  fighters lost in battles with Pakistani forces and the NATO stationed in Afghanistan  from among young fighters in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia The aims of the al-Qaeda at the moment appears to be to mount  major terrorist attacks, cause insecurity, and embarrass the Pakistani government. Such a strategy seems to be in line with the al-Qaedist philosophy that considers the Muslim nations no less deviants from the “true” path of Islam as the infidels are. Since the Taliban are least worried about democracy and more emphatic on so-called Western social “degeneration” from which they vow the Islamic world has to be “rescued” coupled with Pakistan’s age old enmity with India and the loss of Afghanistan as “strategic depth” India should be very cautious in dealings with Pakistan despite Zardari’s friendly pronouncements regarding Pakistan’s archenemy. None in the subcontinent should forget that al-Qaeda terrorism is transnational and the Muslim majority countries being “soft targets” are more likely to be both terrorist victims and areas if recruits.

India has been victim of terrorism for a long time, partly state sponsored from across the border and partly home grown. Unless terrorism can be eliminated Indian aspiration to be in the league of fast developing countries is bound to stumble. Constitution of India’s GDP does not indicate a fast lane growth. The importance India is being given by the rich and the famous is partly because W W Rostow had predicted decades back (The stages of economic growth) of the eventual rise of China and India was because of more than two billion people the two countries would have coupled with the resourcefulness of the people. Yet both countries suffer from abysmal depth of poverty (Shanghai and Mumbai being unrepresentative of the countries)’s real state of development. Terrorism and allied expenditures that could have been better spent on education, health, and other infrastructural projects have to be diverted to defense. It is believed that apart from the US India is the fourth largest spender on defense. Without getting entangled with the merit/demerit of the case suffice it to say that constant terrorist threats can not but thwart India’s economic development, an essential requirement to correct the imbalance of the global economic and political structure resultant of the decisions made by the victors of the Second World War.

 Bangladeshi authorities would be well advised to monitor cooperation between religious parties and Islamic extremists of Bangladesh and Pakistan. Public outcry about religious extremism in Bangladesh notwithstanding it is believed that the US views Bangladesh as a key partner in the Islamic world. Bangladesh’s moderate foreign policy coincides with the US interest in the Islamic world. Bangladesh is party to most anti-terrorism conventions as well as SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism. Bangladesh’s cultural trend is still believed to be secured in secularism and the contagion of Islam pasand political parties has yet to affect the people at large. Yet every so often we read press reports of Islamic extremists being arrested by law enforcing authorities along with war materials. If the figure of 30% intake in the armed forces by the BNP-Jamaat government between 2001-2006, a report dismissed by the World Bank as not being based on proper study, is to be given some credence then Bangladesh and South Asia have reasons to worry.

 The US and the West are acutely aware of poverty, corruption, political violence and communal divide threatening peace and stability in Bangladesh. Bangladesh authorities would be doing themselves a service and the country a favor in helping to avoid a disaster in the making by taking resolute political action against Islamic extremism and strengthen  good governance in its most expansive definition enabling the poverty ridden people a chance to live a life they are entitled to.