Excerpt from an 'Exchange of Opinion' With Selig Harrison
Selig Harrison, a South Asia expert (bio attached) had an 'Exchange of Opinion' with a group of Bangladeshi intellects on 25th Oct 2008 in New York. The meeting was held in a congenial atmosphere and lasted about 2½ hours. After the introduction Mr. Harrison talked about 45minutes followed by a question and answer session. Mr. Harrison informed the audience that he first visited Bangladesh (The then East Pakistan) in 1951 and in 1963 he met with Sheikh Mujib, Dr. Kamal Hossain & Manik Mia. In March 1971 during Pakistani massacre on 25th March he was in Dhaka Intercontinental hotel and tried to send news about the massacre but that did not go through.
At the present situation in Bangladesh Mr. Harrison told that, Moyeen is trying to establish a military resigm in Bangladesh. He said: in Bangladesh, there is always a struggle between democratic forces & military. I wish democratic forces win. He said, 'I see no sign of lifting emergency'. Mr. Harrison told that, basically an election under emergency is unsatisfactory, relaxation of emergency is not enough and US should push for total lifting of emergency. Mr. Harrison told that, US should push Moyeen to lift emergency for good. He added that, Bangladesh is more politicized than Pakistan and Bangladesh is more capable to democracy and rule them. In reference to a report "Begums are Back" of London Economist (30th Sept 2008) Mr. Harrison told that, it was unjustified optimism. In reply to a question he told that: Continuation of emergency will take Bangladesh to Mushraff's direction. In reply to another question Mr. Harrison told that: US should ally with the democratic forces in Bangladesh. In reply to another question he told that: Awami League (AL) did not patronize Islamists, BNP did that during its tenure of 2001-2006 and that is the contrast between AL & BNP.
Mr. Harrison told that, I saw Rabita helped madrassas in Pakistan, but I had underestimated that, Rabita will do the same in Bangladesh. In reply to a question Mr. Harrison told that, the reason of execution of Bangla Bhai & other terrorists are that they were about to reveal the relation between DGFI & Islamists, so it was an attempt to protect them. Minority persecution & Human Rights violation also came into discussion and Mr. Harrison condemn that. Mr. Harrison also praised the bravery of the Bangladeshi journalists.
