{"id":121503,"date":"2021-12-25T16:30:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T23:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=121503"},"modified":"2021-12-25T16:30:27","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T23:30:27","slug":"rare-praise-from-pakistan-is-grudging-recognition-of-bangladeshs-surprising-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/12\/25\/rare-praise-from-pakistan-is-grudging-recognition-of-bangladeshs-surprising-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare praise from Pakistan is grudging recognition of Bangladesh’s surprising success story"},"content":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Bangladesh\ngot its independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a bloody struggle. Pakistan\nhad been exploiting then East Pakistan systematically and Islamabad’s economy\nwas built on the money of the Bengali-majority areas. However, the newly\nindependent nation of Bangladesh came into existence under the charismatic\nleadership of its great founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in\n1971, signaling the ultimate triumph of the Bengali identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\ninherited a shattered economy and a completely broken infrastructure. It was\ndescribed as a hopeless economic disaster by many economic experts and world\nleaders such as then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who called it a\nBottomless Basket\u201d in 1974. Nobody believed that Bangladesh could survive\neconomically as an independent country. Today the world is both surprised and\ndelighted to see the phoenix rising from the ashes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthe path was not so smooth. The war-ravaged country faced some hard realities\nand went through economic struggles. Mujibur Rahman tried his level best to\nmake Bangladesh his promised \u2018Golden Bengal\u2019. But miscreants played the spoiler\nand assassinated him to serve their interests instead of the national interest.\nSo, the promised dream of a great \u2018Golden Bengal\u2019 did not materialize then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\npeople of Bangladesh suffered for years as the country saw political ups and\ndowns from time to time. But now the picture has changed. Bangladesh is now\ngrowing and rising. Its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is trying to fulfill her\nfather Sheikh Mujibur’s dream of ushering in a Golden Bengal\u2019. Credit must be\ngiven not only to Sheikh Hasina but also to the hardworking people of Bangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistani media appraise Bangladesh.\nRare appreciation from Pakistan is the grudging recognition of Bangladesh\u2019s\nsuccess story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dawn, One of Pakistan\u2019s\nprestigious newspapers, published an article on December 16 (Day of Golden\nJubilee of Bangladesh) titled \u2018The Bangladesh Story\u2019<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>written by Pakistani\nPrime Minister Imran Khan’s Advisor for Institutional Reforms and\nAusterity Ishrat Husainwho served as the dean of the Institute of\nBusiness Administration, University of Karachi and the Governor of the State\nBank of Pakistan. According to the article,\u2019 The Bangladesh story is an\nattractive one. How can a country so vulnerable to natural calamities\noutperform its much larger, better-endowed neighbours \u2014 India and Pakistan \u2014 in\nmost socio-economic indicators?\u2019 He showed the 6 fact-findings in his article\nwhy Bangladesh is moving forward such as cultural homogeneity with the same\nlanguage, ethnicity, and a shared history and practically no religious, sectarian,\ntribal, and feudal divisions, the unitary form of government, women\nempowerment, a continuity in economic policies, projects, and programs despite\nhaving bitter political rivalries, efforts to liberalize trade, open its\neconomy, bring in foreign technical know-how and provide generous cash and\nnon-cash incentives to exporters, sustained high growth. Pakistan\u2019s other popular and leading\ndaily \u2018Pakistan Today\u2019 (whose founding editor was Pakistan\u2019s veteran journalist\nand minister Arif Nizami) published an excellent article on December 24 titled \u2018Why and how\nBangladesh is moving forward?\u2019<\/a> written by Jubeda Chowdhury. Jubeda\nChowdhury\u2019s well-written article describes the pros and cons (a-z) of the\neconomic growth model and system of Bangladesh. To understand the pace of\neconomic growth of Bangladesh, I suggest all to read the article carefully.\n  Another leading daily \u2018The News\nInternational\u2019 published also published an article on December 21 titled\u2019 The West Pakistan\nModel\u2019<\/a> written by Mosharraf Zaidi. In his article, he analyses and\ncompares the Bangladesh Model of economic growth and the West Pakistan Model\u2019.\nIt is pertinent to mention that Pakistani magazine\n“South Asia” published a total of seven stories highlighting the\nsuccess and achievements of Bangladesh and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in\nMarch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheikh\nHasina’s contribution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of\ncourse, PM Sheikh Hasina has made a great contribution because, without an\nable, dynamic and prudent leadership, the country would not have emerged as a\nrising star. She is still striving hard to make Bangladesh prosperous and\ndeveloped within 2041. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed,\nBangladesh is now a prime example of a South Asian economic miracle. Many\ncountries and international organizations are appreciating the economic rise of\nBangladesh. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nPakistani journalists are praising Bangladesh’s economic growth in their\nreports, editorials, opinions, etc. One of the leading dailies, Express\nTribune, published an article on October 5, 2021, titled The Meteoric Rise of\nBangladesh”. According to the article, Bangladesh has shown unexpected\nand very impressive economic development. The GDP growth rate surpassed\nPakistan\u2019s in 2006 and since then it has outperformed Pakistan every year and,\nto the surprise of leading economists, is today one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing\neconomies. The GDP per capita of Bangladesh is close to India and exceeds that\nof Pakistan”.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nPakistani economist, Abid Hasan, a former adviser to the World Bank, wrote an\narticle in another leading Pakistani daily, The News International, titled \u2018Aid\nfrom Bangladesh\u2019. on May 24, 2021. In his article, he said Pakistan may end up\nseeking financial assistance from Bangladesh by 2030. It is the economic growth\nachieved by Bangladesh that has earned such grudging praise from a Pakistani\neconomist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice\nfor Pakistan PM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noted\nPakistani journalist Zaigham Khan, while taking part in a television talk show\nAwaam on Capital TV in September 2018, advised Pakistan Prime Minister Imran\nKhan to follow the development model of Bangladesh to ensure Pakistan\u2019s progress\nand development. He said Pakistan should be modeled on Bangladesh instead of\nfaraway Sweden. This was because PM Khan had made grand promises that he would\nturn Pakistan into a developed country like Sweden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nprofessor of the University of Karachi, Moonis Ahmar, wrote in an article\ntitled How and why is Bangladesh better off than Pakistan today?” in\nExpress Tribune on March 21, 2021 that four factors that contributed to\ntransforming Bangladesh from an international beggar\u201d to an economically vibrant\ncountry\u201d are leadership, innovation, planning, and ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even\nPakistan Today, The Pakistan Observer, The Frontier Post – all major English\ndailies – have published articles lauding the economic growth of Bangladesh.\nThey said the country\u2019s economy was booming under the leadership of its PM\nSheikh Hasina. The Pakistan Observer felt Bangladesh was going to be the next\nSouth Asian economic superstar. Pakistan Today acknowledged Bangladesh’s\ntremendous effort to boost its economy over the past few years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nthe Pakistani media has been asking its government to follow Bangladesh’s\nmodel, it remains a sore point that Bangladesh -then East Pakistan, its eastern\nwing – was an exploited colony of Pakistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh\nis now ahead of Pakistan in many indexes. It is a matter of considerable\nsurprise that Pakistan is now praising Bangladesh. Although Bangladesh is now\njust 50, Pakistan is 74 years old. Had Pakistan not exploited Bangladesh\neconomically for 24 years (1947-71), it would have gone further ahead. However,\nPakistan praising Bangladesh reflects both the reality and success of\nBangladesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan Bangladesh got its independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a bloody struggle. Pakistan had been exploiting then East Pakistan systematically and Islamabad’s economy was built on the money of the Bengali-majority areas. However, the newly independent nation of Bangladesh came into existence under the charismatic leadership of its great founding father Bangabandhu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}