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| Bangladeshi government now needs to come up with a respectable settlement with Dr. Yunus, without wasting any further time, for the sake of greater interest of the country. Continuation of feud with Dr. Yunus will not bring anything good for this nation - anymore! |
(April 06, Dhaka, Sri Lanka Guardian) Following the latest court decision from Bangladesh Supreme Court on Nobel winning Dr. Mohammad Yunus, Robert Blake, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said the United States had a "strong interest in maintaining close relations" with Bangladesh, which he called "a democratic and moderate Muslim country."
But he said he raised concerns during a visit last month to Dhaka over the treatment of Yunus, who was removed from the helm of Grameen Bank after a feud with the government.
"I warned that a failure to find a compromise that respects Dr. Yunus's global stature and maintains the integrity and effectiveness of Grameen could affect our bilateral relations," Blake told a congressional hearing.
Meanwhile, in a letter to Dr. Yunus, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said his government will closely monitor the developments regarding Prof Muhammad Yunus' removal from Grameen Bank and take up the issue with the Bangladesh authorities in the next few days.
Romano Prodi, former president of European Commission, has written to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressing hope she would be able to reach an amicable solution to Prof Muhammad Yunus issue.
In the letter, 71-year-old Prodi voiced support for the Nobel laureate and his visionary work in eradicating poverty from the country, reads a statement of the Grameen Bank.
The letter from the two-time former prime minister of Italy came as several governments including France and Spain have expressed concern about Yunus' removal by Bangladesh Bank from the position of Grameen Bank managing director.
The international outcry in favor of Dr. Yunus is well expected as he has been able to establish a huge personal image internationally due to his work in promoting micro-credit globally showing the example of his Grameen Bank. But of course, while claiming series of his ‘grand successes’ in upbringing Grameen Bank to today’s structure, Dr. Yunus and his well-trained PR team has been very successful in projecting bunch of lies to further glorify the image of the founding father of Grameen Bank. Some of these lies include, claiming Sufia Begum to be a model borrower of Grameen Bank, though this woman died of extremely poverty few years back. Dr. Yunus even showed a building at Jobra Village [where Grameen Bank started its journey], claiming it to be owned by Sufia Begum. But, later it was revealed in a number of investigative reports and documentaries that, this was actually a gross forgery of information by Grameen and Yunus. Many of such irregularities were also well documented in Tom Heinemann’s documentary, which was aired on Norwegian television.
I am sure, French President Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy or Mr. Robert Blake and others may not be fully aware of these irregularities and virtual corruption of Dr. Yunus inside Grameen Bank. Most surprisingly, Bangladeshi embassy in Washington or Paris must have miserably failed to play any minimum role in at least communicating the other sides of the coin, when Dr. Yunus and his entire team are active in pursuing the international community with their own version of statement, mostly aimed at labeling the removal of Dr. Yunus from the post of Grameen Bank’s managing director as mere ‘political feud’ between him and ‘corrupt politicians’ in Bangladesh.
Personally I believe Dr. Yunus enjoys a very high status in the eyes of many influential leaders in the world. He has long-time relations with Clinton family in United States as well as good relations with President Barack Obama for years. A number of Senators and members of US Congress, mostly Democrats, are actively lobbying in favor of Dr. Yunus for many obvious reasons. The latest statement of Mr. Robert Blake is just result of such strong persuasion inside Capitol Hill by a large number of friends of Dr. Yunus.
But, traditionally, Bangladesh has always been ignoring any such international outcry or opinion of international community, just because, policymakers here and their sycophants fail to understand the ultimate consequence of ignoring the opinion of the international community. I have personal experience in this case since 2003.
At least a few dozens of US Congress members wrote to Bangladesh government on my behalf since I was arrested on a false case brought against me by BNP-Jamaat government in 2003. The US Congress passed a resolution with 406 votes [HR 64], which was introduced in the house by Congressman Mark Steven Kirk [now Senator from Illinois] and Congresswoman Nita Lowey. Senator Kirk is from Republican Party, while Ms. Nita Lowey is from Democrats. But, such strong bi-partisan resolution is till date totally ignored by the Bangladeshi government, and they are rather continuing to try me in Dhaka Court for criticizing Jihadists and for writing on rise of Islamist militancy inside madrassas. Dhaka’s ignorance towards the resolution passed in the US Congress in 2007 is one of the reasons behind Bangladesh’s not getting Free Trade Agreement [FTA] for its textile products in the US market. Have any of the Bangladeshi policymakers or their sycophants or those diplomats in Bangladesh mission ever tried to assess this issue? Nah! I can assure, the latest issue of Dr. Yunus will bring nothing good for Dhaka anymore. Bangladesh has already lost the battle internationally in showing any justification of removing him from the position of managing director of Grameen Bank. International community has already accepted the briefs of Dr. Yunus, whatever it is. And of course, it is another failed diplomacy of Dhaka.
Bangladeshi government now needs to come up with a respectable settlement with Dr. Yunus, without wasting any further time, for the sake of greater interest of the country. Continuation of feud with Dr. Yunus will not bring anything good for this nation - anymore!
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