Here is a timely article by my dear friend Mizanur Rahman Shelley who touches upon a few points close to my heart. He quotes the vicious comments on India by Vidya Naipaul. I want to draw attention to Naipaul's mention of 'Indian civilization' as if it was something extraneous and impervious to all the comings and goings of foreigners through the two millenniums! Our Banglaseshi India-bashers are no more sensitive than Naipaul. Their idea of India is an isolated phantasm of an obssessive communal imagination.
Shelley begins his piece by reminding us of the coming visit of the Indian PM to Bangladesh:
<<THE historic ties of friendship between Bangladesh and India are about to be cemented anew. The much-awaited visit to Dhaka of the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, along with an impressive array of chief ministers of states of the Indian union adjacent to Bangladesh, is expected to result in the signing of various treaties and agreements between the two countries. It is also hoped that a number of thorny issues including sharing of the Teesta water, demarcation of un-demarcated portion of boarders, transit and connectivity will be in the process of satisfactory resolution. If that happens the Indian prime minister's visit to Bangladesh in early September may, indeed, prove to be a turning point in the history of Indo-Bangladesh relations. >>
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/op-ed/31995.html
I hope Shelley's wise advice is heeded to by all parties concerned.
<< On the external dimension, it will herald a new age of peace and prosperity with suspicious neighbour whose leaders also need to break free from the shackles of fear and mistrust. They must not 'fear to negotiate' though they must not negotiate in fear with their giant of a neighbour who herself is beset with her own hosts of distressing problems. >>
Farida Majid
Shelley begins his piece by reminding us of the coming visit of the Indian PM to Bangladesh:
<<THE historic ties of friendship between Bangladesh and India are about to be cemented anew. The much-awaited visit to Dhaka of the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, along with an impressive array of chief ministers of states of the Indian union adjacent to Bangladesh, is expected to result in the signing of various treaties and agreements between the two countries. It is also hoped that a number of thorny issues including sharing of the Teesta water, demarcation of un-demarcated portion of boarders, transit and connectivity will be in the process of satisfactory resolution. If that happens the Indian prime minister's visit to Bangladesh in early September may, indeed, prove to be a turning point in the history of Indo-Bangladesh relations. >>
http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/op-ed/31995.html
I hope Shelley's wise advice is heeded to by all parties concerned.
<< On the external dimension, it will herald a new age of peace and prosperity with suspicious neighbour whose leaders also need to break free from the shackles of fear and mistrust. They must not 'fear to negotiate' though they must not negotiate in fear with their giant of a neighbour who herself is beset with her own hosts of distressing problems. >>
Farida Majid
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