Daily Times

After 40 years of its independence, Bangladesh is recognised internationally as a peaceful developing country that is wracked by constant natural disasters, including tropical cyclones and devastating floods. Unlike its parent state, Bangladesh is not identified as a nation associated with militant Islam, international terrorism, religious fundamentalism and guerrilla warfare. It is rather admired by the global community for its strict anti-terrorism stance and its support for UN peacekeeping missions.

Like in Pakistan, Sunni Muslims are a clear majority in Bangladesh and comprise more than 85 percent of its population. Yet, sectarian violence among Shiites and Sunnis is uncommon, and further fragmentation of Sunnis into Wahabi, Deobandi and Barelvi schools of thought is unpopular. Religious freedom of minorities, including Hindus and Christians, is also generally well preserved in Bangladesh, as opposed to Pakistan where religious freedoms are curtailed.

Bangladesh too has territorial disputes with India and continues to wrangle with its giant neighbour over its northeast border districts. Nevertheless, it is determined to solve all its differences through diplomatic means and negotiations only — a policy that is widely considered as appeasement in Pakistan. Accordingly, in 2001, Bangladesh voluntarily pulled its forces back from the disputed district of Padua in Sylhet that the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) had captured from the Indian forces.

Similar to the geostrategic location of Pakistan, Bangladesh is ideally placed for a proxy war with India. It is situated on the western border of Assam — the far eastern state of India that has been struggling for decades for its own independence. In spite of that, Bangladesh has eschewed an aggressive military strategy and has never been involved with, or been accused of training and supporting, the local Assamese militia.

In the immediate aftermath of its independence in 1971, Bangladesh desperately needed urgent financial assistance. Its losses were huge. It had not yet recovered from the devastating floods of 1970 that had killed almost 250,000 people, when that was immediately followed by the loss of millions of lives in the war of independence. Its hope of any financial independence had also dwindled when demand for jute (the golden fibre) — the largest cash crop and major export of Bangladesh — plummeted internationally and was replaced by demand for polyethylene internationally. At the time, India had provided Bangladesh $ 232 million in foreign aid.

To add to other woes, Bangladesh was also one of the most densely populated countries of the world. It had a population of 71 million to impede its developing economy that was growing at 7 percent annually. The population of Pakistan in 1971 was 68 million. Through decades of focused struggle to educate and empower Bengali women, the country managed to control the population explosion, and population growth rate has dropped to 1.29 percent with a current population level of 156 million. In comparison, Pakistan has a growth rate of 1.6 percent and a total population of 187 million in 2011.

The literacy rate in Bangladesh is also comparable to Pakistan — close to 60 percent. But the difference is in gender disparity in literacy rates. Bangladesh’s literacy disparity between males and females is 10 percent, whilst Pakistan’s is 30 percent.

The economy of Bangladesh is expected to grow at 6.5 percent for the next five years according to a World Bank report. It is directly associated with the growth in its garments industry that is averaging 20 percent per year. Even though it does not produce cotton, Bangladesh has become the third largest exporter of readymade garments in the world, just behind China and Turkey. Its $ 15 billion garment sector accounts for 80 percent of total exports and employs 3.5 million people.

However, military dictatorships and extra-constitutional administrative measures have blemished the political stability of Bangladesh. The latest blow was the declaration of emergency in 2007. The emergency delayed elections by two years in order to launch a major crackdown operation against corruption. But once the bureaucratic martial law was lifted, the people of Bangladesh voted once again for the same political parties. They elected the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, with more than two-thirds majority in parliament.

This time, the political administration has taken some courageous steps to strengthen the democratic process and has tried and executed five ex-army officers for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman.

The country has also established a tribunal with international assistance (in the interests of transparency) to prosecute the seven people who are charged with war crimes in Bangladesh during its war of independence in 1971. If these trials are conducted independently and bring a just verdict, then it is very likely that Bangladesh will turn the page towards political stability and depart permanently from the era of political turmoil.

The writer is a freelance columnist residing in the US. He can be reached at skhashmi@yahoo.com