| Dhaka, Apr 6 (bdnews24.com) — A senior US foreign ministry official has said the bitter battle between Muhammad Yunus and the government could strain growing ties between the two countries.
US assistant secretary of state for South Asia Robert O Blake, who had visited Dhaka last month, made the remark in a Congressional hearing on Tuesday.
"I warned that a failure to find a compromise 'that respects Yunus' global stature and maintains the integrity and effectiveness of Grameen Bank' could hurt the bilateral relations," he said.
The United States warned last month that ties with Bangladesh could be affected if a solution was not found to the clash.
The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the High Court ruling that backed the sacking of the Nobel Peace laureate from Grameen Bank as its managing director.
Yunus has gone on to move the Supreme Court for withdrawal of its order in what should be his last throw of the dice in the harsh legal battle over the future control of Grameen Bank.
"The Bangladesh government and Dr Yunus have become embroiled in a struggle for control of Grameen Bank, which has implications for the health of Bangladesh's civil society," Blake said.
A copy of the full text of the hearing is with bdnews24.com.
"When I went to Bangladesh two weeks ago, Dr James Wolfensohn and I pressed the Government of Bangladesh to protect the integrity of civil society and the autonomy of the Grameen Bank," he told the hearing committee.
"Grameen Bank was a pioneer of the concept of 'microcredit' – providing small loans to tens of millions of Bangladeshis, especially women, who possess little or no collateral."
He said Bangladesh "also can be proud of its vibrant and innovative civil society, which has produced such outstanding global citizens as Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus."
The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is a close friend of Yunus, who has won the two highest civilian honours of the US — American Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal.
Blake, however, said the United States had a 'strong interest in maintaining close relations' with Bangladesh, which was 'a secular democracy and moderate Muslim country with a history of religious and ethnic tolerance'.
The US government intended to work with Bangladesh and its people to advance "our common interests and help sustain the country's upward movement", he added.
The dismissal of Yunus caused an international outcry with the US criticising Bangladesh's handling of the affair. Yunus' supporters said the firing was the culmination of a political vendetta against him.
Prime Minister Skeikh Hasina last year accused Yunus, who briefly set up his own political party in 2007 during the military-run caretaker government, of using 'tricks' to avoid taxes and 'sucking blood of the poor' with his bank's loans.
Last month in Dhaka, Blake issued a thinly-veiled threat that if a compromise was not reached at on the Yunus issue, the US-Bangladesh relationship would get 'impacted'.
"We in the United States have been deeply troubled by the difficulties he is currently facing," he had told the media at press conference.
Blake had also discussed the issue with both prime minister Hasina and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia.
He had reiterated his appeal for a "compromise" solution that would preserve Grameen's "integrity and independence".
"Such a compromise will also allow us to continue the very good progress we have made in our bilateral relations," he told reporters after meeting Hasina.
Separately, the 26 members of the US congressional caucus on Bangladesh wrote last week to Hasina, warning that the campaign against Yunus was "beginning to overshadow" what had been the improving US-Bangladesh relationship.
Finance minister AMA Muhith last month said the government would be open to to some compromise – such as to allow Yunus to remain an emeritus fellow at Grameen – but not, however, to his proposal that he should step aside as managing director and be made chairman instead.
Yunus, 70, was sacked for having no legal authority to act as the micro-lender's managing director, since its board had not obtained the Bangladesh Bank's sanction to re-appoint him beyond the bank's official retirement age of 60.
bdnews24.com/ssz/bd/2110h |
