by Jamal Anwar
August 21, 2005?

The World Bank president, Paul Wolfowitz, is scheduled to arrive from India today on a visit that was shortened at the last minute. Sources in the Ministry of Finance said Saturday (20. 08. 05) evening that Wolfowitz, originally scheduled to stay in Dhaka for two days as part of his South Asia tour, will only be staying for eight hours on Sunday.

The WB is doing nothing for alleviating poverty or for the welfare of the people living under poverty line, instead they are serving the vested interests of the imperialists, some economists charged at a roundtable discussion on "World Bank in Bangladesh" at the Jatiya Press Club. Organised by local NGO Unnayan Onneshan, the roundtable was addressed by Prof Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University, general secretary of Bangladesh Economic Association Prof Abul Barakat and Prof MM Akash of Dhaka University.

Prof Anu Muhammad termed Wolfwitz as a war monger and said the United States recently appointed someone as head of the WB who served the US government as deputy secretary of defence and inspired the administration to unleash terror attack on Iraq.

"How such war lover could work for the betterment of the poor people and development of the world" he questioned.

Prof Anu claimed that role of WB in Bangladesh was curbing education facilities in the name of spreading it, and increase in the number of poor people in the name of poverty alleviation. "After evaluating all the WB projects initiated in past 30 years, I can judge those as the projects of mass destruction," he said.

Prof Abul Barakat said that the government always becomes happy if it gets assurance of loan from the donors.

"It is because there are opportunities of embezzling the donor’s grant," Barakat said, adding "political criminalisation" resulted in misuse of maximum grant amount. Prof Akash underscored the need for breaking the ‘myth’ about the positivity of WB. "We are living in an illusion… we have to become conscious about the role of WB," he said (The Independent, August 21, 2005).

The World Bank has not helped development in Bangladesh. In the context of countrywide bomb blasts on Wednesday, presumably carried out by fundamentalists, speakers said World Bank and fundamentalism were inextricably linked. Economists and professionals addressing a roundtable discussion, World Bank in Bangladesh, organised by a research organisation, the Innovators, on Saturday at the National Press Club criticised the lending agency’s programmes and highlighted how they favoured the commercial interests of the main financiers of the agency.

MM Akash, professor of economics at Dhaka University, said in the context of the recent bomb blasts, ‘The World Bank in its own way is fundamentalist.’ Quoting Joseph Stiglitz, a former chief economist of the agency, Akash said the bank believed in ‘market fundamentalism’. ‘It believes in the supreme authority of the market, free from any kind of interventions,’ he said.

Regarding the development activities of the agency Akash said as far as the World Bank and its financiers are concerned, it is doing perfectly well, looking after the corporate interests of those countries. He said, ‘It is only natural that the financiers of the lending agency would like to see a return on their investment. It is we who are in an illusion that the bank is a development agency.’

Abul Barakat, general secretary of the Bangladesh Economic Association, with a more pragmatic view said, ‘Fundamentalism and the World Bank have always had close links.’ He said people like Bin Laden and Mullah Omar had been created with donor funds and agency loans that include institutions like the World Bank.

Referring to the World Bank’s jute sector adjustment programme, Barakat said the very institution that advocated for closing down Adamjee Jute Mills while it provided funds to open three new ones in West Bengal, India. ‘Sometimes the will of the political masters also determine how the funds are going to be used.’ Speakers agreed that the multilateral lending agencies thrived on the corruption in countries where they operate and are seldom interested in the development of their clients.

Concern over rapid growth of NGO sector
A World Bank report on non-government organisations (NGO) of the country has expresses concern over the rapid growth and diversification of the NGO sector. The Bank in the report that was made public on Thursday, also stressed the need for ensuring accountability and transparency of the NGOs.

It also reveals that around 70 per cent of private charitable contributions in Bangladesh go to religious institutions, with educational establishments (15 per cent), a distant second followed by recreational events.

"Most NGO advocacy focuses on issues affecting the poor, and is seen as fully legitimate (e.g. violence against women, dowry, land rights, access to justice, housing, education). However, recently a few NGOs were accused of stretching their advocacy work into partisan political activity and electioneering, and funding for their service delivery programmes was sequestered as a result. As Government funding for NGO services grows in importance, NGOs are less likely to want to antagonise Government," the report said.

Hence the more prominent advocacy-oriented NGOs tend to be involved only slightly in direct service activities, and large, multi-activity NGOs tend to avoid issues that could seriously antagonise government. Nevertheless even without taking on contentious issues such as human rights and electoral reform, there are plenty of low-key advocacy activities that multi-activity NGOs engage in that are of significant benefit to the poor (e.g. RDRS’s campaigns on violence against women and promoting access to resources by the poor).

It is quite ironic that at the same time that it has been exercising such strict control over non-religiously affiliated NGOs, that the government has been so lax in its oversight of the religiously affiliated NGOs -- specifically Islamic NGOs. As a result, these entities have been given a virtual free pass, and have been able to run with only minimal governmental oversight and supervision. There are 34 Islamic NGOs currently registered with the NGO bureau and funded from abroad. However, the oversight over these entities remains negligible. In addition, there are several hundred NGOs that are registered with the social welfare department, which has neither the resources nor the inclination to keep a tab on their activities. These NGOs are barely scrutinised, and little or no record of their activities is maintained. In light of recent events, now is the time for a comprehensive policy to regulate such NGOs. There is no justification for the fact that they are subject to less scrutiny than regular NGOs. This type of scrutiny should have been undertaken long ago. Better late than never ( Daily Star, September 01, 2005).

'Bangladesh better remain an example for Islamic world'
The United States has said that it would like to see Bangladesh remain a moderate democratic country as an example for the rest of the Islamic world. Talking with leaders of Indian industry here Thursday on the situation in South Asia, US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca said, "In Bangladesh, we seek a country that overcomes poverty and consistently remains a moderate democratic Muslim polity as an example for the rest of the Islamic world."

She recalled US Secretary of State Colin Powell's words that "Bangladesh's democracy, Bangladesh's economic progress, Bangladesh's friendship and Bangladeshi people -- all matter to us" and said "I know India also shares that view." Rocca also touched on the situation in Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan and saw a joint role for India and the United States to help Nepal ward away threats of Maoist violence and re-establish democratic institutions in the Himalayan Kingdom. (Pallab Bhattacharya, New Delhi, The Daily Star, Sept 13, 2003).

The US government has described Bangladesh as “a valued partner” in the “war on terror”. “With the fourth largest Muslim population in the world, Bangladesh is a valued partner in the war on terror, a moderate voice in regional and international fora, and a leading contributor to UN peacekeeping missions,” Assistant secretary of state Christina Rocca told the US House of Representatives committee on international relations on June 22. “Yet political rivalries and one of the most significant corruption problems in the world threaten democratic stability and impede economic growth” in Bangladesh, she said. (New Age, 24. 06. 04)

Charge d’ Affaires of the US embassy Judith Chammas yesterday termed Bangladesh a moderate and tolerant society which has the potential for taking a leading role in South Asia as the country is pre-dominantly Muslim. The US diplomat was speaking at a seminar on "America’s Role in Asia" jointly organised by The Asia Foundation and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) (The Independent, November 24, 2004).

Prophetic Traditions
Muslims were encouraged to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave. Here below are some Prophetic Traditions regarding the importance of learning:

To seek knowledge is a religious duty for every Muslim man and woman.
The best treasure is the pursuit of knowledge, the prayers of worthy men, and the friendship of agreeable brothers.
Knowledge of God is my capital. Reason is the root of my faith.
Knowledge is a treasure house whose keys are queries.
One who treads a path in search of knowledge has his path to Paradise made easy by Allah thereby.
A person who goes (out of his house) in search of knowledge, he is on Allah’s way and he remains so till he returns.
To seek knowledge for one hour at night is better than keeping it (night) awake.
A Muslim is never satiated in his quest for good (knowledge) till it ends in paradise.
A learned person is superior to a worshipper as the full moon is superior to all the stars. The scholars are heirs of the prophets and the prophets do not leave any inheritance in the shape of dirhams and dinars (wealth), but they do leave knowledge as their legacy. As such a person who acquires knowledge acquires his full share.
A scholar who is asked about something (about the religion) and he conceals it, such a person will be bridled on the Day of Judgment with a bridle of fire
The word of wisdom is [like] the lost property of a wise man. So wherever he finds it, he is entitled to it.

When the prophetic mission of Muhammad (S) started, there were only a handful of Arabs who could read and write. But within a short period of time, following the Prophetic encouragement, many Arabs became literate. (The educated prisoners of wars from the opposing camp could buy their freedom from imprisonment by educating Muslim children.) The caliphs that followed were all literate men, some even literary men of distinction, who were munificent patrons of education. The process did not stop there, it continued even during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods and then to those who came later, ending with the Ottomans. To believe otherwise would only reflect one’s prejudice or ignorance.

The Qur’an, as we submitted above, gave a great impetus to learning, especially in the field of natural science; and if, as some scholars have declared, the inductive method, to which all the practical modern discoveries are primarily owing, can be traced to it, then it may be called the foundation of modern scientific and material progress. The Prophet of Islam, to whom the Qur’an was revealed, was a great patron of learning and so were those Muslims who ruled later the vast territories of Islam. Islam, the religion of free thought, is not against science nor against progress. It cannot be blamed for the current pitiable state of Muslim nation-states. The causes for decline lie elsewhere (Dr. Habib Siddiqui, West Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, 2005).

The Bengalis became muslim through liberal sufi muslims
Bangladesh is one of the poorest and most densely populated (750 person per sq. km) countries of the world, and one of the most prone to natural disasters, which accounts for hundreds of thousands of deaths and billion dollars of crop and property damage. It is a country little larger than England, contains at present about 114 million people and expected to grow to 342 million by the year 2150 (FAO, 1990). Per capita annual income in Bangladesh is about US $184. The majority of the population is living below the poverty line. Bangladesh is caught in a vicious cycle of poverty, resource and environmental depletion and ill health. Three-quarters of the population, especially women and children, are ill and malnourished. The status of women is very low in Bangladesh. It is only one of four countries of the world where more girls than boys die below the age of five. High levels of chronic disability and severe malnutrition are common in Bangladesh. Per-capita public expenditure on education and health services are amongst the lowest in the world .

This poor agro-based small country has developed over the centuries an excellent social situation based on humanism and secular thought. In 1986 Prof. Alan Dundes of the University of California, Berkeley wrote: "Bangladesh may be one of the poorest nations on the face of the earth, but I can tell you from the folklorist's perspective, it is clearly one of the richest."