Comparision between Pakistan and Bangladesh: Basket case - Pakistan or Bangladesh?

[IBM]

Bangladesh's Forex reserve crossed 8 billion yesterday.Not bad for a country which started everything from scratch after independence.

Bangladesh's Forex Reserve Crosses $8 Billion

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7016040290?Bangladesh's%20Forex%20Reserve%20Crosses%20$8%20Billion

Bangladesh is expected to grow at least 6% in 2009-10.

tehran times : Bangladesh economy to grow 6 % in 2009-10

But we suffer from power shortages also.Hopefully the Russians will complete the N-plant quickly so that we get some relief on this sector.Or we can import electricity from Bhutan or India.

Please don't import electircity from India. Than u will say its junk like maruti 800... please issue notice to ur parliament not to import electircity.

thanksssss

 

[leonblack08]

Bangladesh is still not hit hard by the ongoing global economic recession and the economy of the country is stronger in comparison with other countries in the region.
Bangladesh economy of the country was stable and the projected economic growth for the fiscal year 09 would be 4.5-5.5 per cent.

These cyclones/floods/loss of land will increase in the future and cause more problems.

Natural flood is in fact good for Bangladesh.It is nourishes the soil and makes it fertile.But abnormal floods and cyclone is a big problem for us.We can't do much about it unfortunately.

 

[thakur_ritesh]

Ritesh, what IBM is claiming is right. Pakistan faces a huge electricity deficent problem and in future it is going to be worse.
Here is a link.

Ritesh i live in UK i regularly watch geo and ary news. I know these channels r banned in India . Wat u can do is, try to seee youtube by typing electric probelm in pak.

Latest news is the shorfall is 4000 MW. Cities like karachi and lahore has 16 hours powercut, imagine rest of country....

Also to add the power minister said that they r hiring power station which will be based on the ship from turkey for 5 yrs. Now Q is how much they fill defecit??? wat will happen after 5 yrs??????????
.. it is expected that one unit will cost more than 14 pak rupees.. u can imagine inflation which is already 25% now if iam not wrong...........wat will happen in future...

WAT IS THE LATEST FIGURE. THESE WERE IN 2005, NOW 90 % INDUSTRY] IN PAK IS CLOSED DUE TO ELECTICITY SHORT FALL, NOW I DONT THINK SO THEY ENJOY SOME STATUS IN WORLD EXECPT EXPORTING TERRORISM. THAT HAS GROWN TREMENDOULY :bye::bye::bye::bye:

it seems i was not able to make my point clear when i made my last post. please reread the highlighted part of the last quoted post, it says 90% of the industry in pak is closed. that seems an astonishingly high number and i would be surpried if the number is that high.

i am aware pakistan is facing severe power shortage a big part of that credit needs to go to mush, but some how the number 90% does not sound that convincing. that seems like a complete collapse and if that were the case pakistan today would be a complete imports based economy, with no exports, and their forex reserves no matter how much cash is put in would have again been under the threat of going bankrupt and so it is important to have a link for this figure, and even if this figure is exaggerated, still it gets important for this thread that we know the exact figure.


PS: everyone posting on the thread,

keep india out of this discussion. as i have said before, we have a lot of threads where we discuss india so keep all such discussion there. henceforth such posts will be deleted.

 

[Pintu]

First , I am offering my apology to everybody for being unable to coming up with the updates that I have promised in continuation of this thread, it was due to some unavoidable circumstances .


Continuing after 5th Post of the thread:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
(source Wikipedia)


Communication in Pakistan : Till date Pakistan made great strides in Telecommunication sector , alone in 2007-08 this sector had attracted $ 1.62 billion of FDI. Pakistan enjoys high status as having one of the best Tele densities around the world , one of the striking feature of Pakistan's teledensities is that one of the remotest areas are connected through WLL.

The telecom service provided in Pakistan mainly by PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited ) while the Govt. of Pakistan has the controlling stake by retaining 62% of the share, 26% has been sold to UAE's govt. owned etisalat , while the remaining 12% is owned by Public.

Other telecom service providers are :

a. Mobilink ( Parent: Orascom , Pakistan / Egypt)
b. Ufone (Mobile service providing arm of PTCL , Pakistan / UAE)
c. Telenor ( Telenor, Norway)
d. Warid (Abu Dhabi Group, UAE)
e. Zong (Parent : China Mobile, which has bought Zong by US$ 450 million)

Some achievements by Pakistan in this field , as I excerpt from Wikipedia:

Mobile telephone market has exploded fourteen fold since 2000 to reach a subscriber base of 91 million users in 2008, one of the highest mobile teledensities in the entire world. In addition, there are over 6 million landlines in the country with 100% fibre-optic network and coverage via WLL in even the remotest areas. As a result, Pakistan won the prestigious Government Leadership award of GSM Association in 2006.

By March 2009, Pakistan had 91 million mobile subscribers - 25 million more subscribers than reported in the same period 2008. In addition to 3.1 million fixed lines, while as many as 2.4 million are using Wireless Local Loop connections. Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Motorola along with Samsung and LG remain to be the popular brands among customers.

Present growth of state-of-the-art infrastructures in telecom sector during the last four years has been the result of the PTA's vision and implementation of deregulation policy. Paging and mobile (cellular) telephones were adopted early and freely. Cellular phones and the Internet were adopted through a rather laissez-faire policy with a proliferation of private service providers that led to fast adoption. With a rapid increase in the number of Internet users and ISPs, and a large English-speaking population, Pakistani society has seen an unparalleled revolution in communications.

Pakistan is ranked 4th in terms of broadband Internet growth in the world, as the subscriber base of broadband Internet has been increasing rapidly. The rankings are released by Point Topic Global broadband analysis, a global research centre.

* akistan has more than 20 million Internet users as of 2005. The country is said to have a potential to absorb up to 50 million mobile phone Internet users in the next 5 years thus a potential of nearly 1 million connections per month.
* Almost all of the main government departments, organisations and institutions have their own websites.
* The use of search engines and instant messaging services is also booming. Pakistanis are some of the most ardent chatters on the Internet, communicating with users all over the world. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the use of online marriage services, for example, leading to a major re-alignment of the tradition of arranged marriages.
* As of 2007 there were six cell phone companies operating in the country with nearly 90 million mobile phone users in the country.
* Wireless local loop and the landline telephony sector has also been liberalized and private sector has entered thus increasing the teledensity rate. In mid-2008, the Local Loop installed capacity reached around 5.5 million.
* Telecom industry created of 80,000 jobs directly and 500,000 jobs indirectly.

The Federal Bureau of Statistics provisionally valued this sector at Rs.982,353 million in 2005 thus registering over 91% growth since 2000.

------------To be continued---------------------------------------------

 

[Pintu]

--------------------------continued from Previous Post-------------------------------
Transport Section

Railways:

Besides the development in the telecom sector, Pakistan Government also started to develop its railway connectivity , current problem faced by Pakistan is that their tracks have the mixed dimensions of 1676mm(5'6") and 1000mm (3 ' 3/8") however they are being converted for Broad Gauge tracks. Pakistan Railway is the decedent of the Railway System during the British India, The Headquarter of Pakistan Railway is Lahore. Total railway line in Pakistan as per Wikipedia , stands at 5072 miles (8,163 km) , while the total length of Railways after partition was 8124 km , the concerned fact is that length of track just grew 39 km for 62 Years i.e. 630 meter approx per year ! or increase of only 39/8124*100/62= .008% increase approx.

Currently Pakistan Railway operates Trains in Peshawar-Karachi, Peshawar-Quetta, Lahore-Sialkot, Lahore-Fasilabad, Lahore-Khanewal, however another track starts from Quetta to Zahedan in Iran , meets with Iran Railway's track.
connecting both the countries.

And link of railways with the other countries:

I quote from Wikipedia:

International

Flag of Iran Iran - A broad gauge railway line runs from Zahedan to Quetta, and a standard gauge line is finished from Zahedan to Kerman in central Iran, linking with the rest of the Iranian rail network. On May 18, 2007, a MOU for rail cooperation was signed by Pakistan and Iran under which the line will be completed by December 2008. Now that the rail systems are linked up at Zahedan, there is a break-of-gauge between the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways standard gauge tracks and Pakistan Railways broad gauge.

Afghanistan - Currently there is no rail link to Afghanistan since no railway network is present in that country, however Pakistan Rail has proposed to help build a Afghani Rail Network in three phases. The first phase will stretch from the Chaman to Spin Boldak in Afghanistan. The second phase will extend line to Kandahar and the third phase will eventually connect to Herat. From there, the line will be extended to Khushka, Turkmenistan. The final phase would link 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) gauge with Central Asian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+7⁄8 in) gauge. It is not clear where the break-of-gauge station will be. The proposed line will also be connected the port town of Gwadar via Dalbadin and Taftan, thus connecting the port town to Central Asia.

China - There is no link with China however, on February 28, 2007 contracts were awarded for feasibility studies on a proposed line from Havelian via the Khunjerab pass at 4730 m above sea level, to the Chinese railhead at Kashgar, a distance of about 750 km.

Turkey - A proposed Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad passenger rail service was proposed recently. Meanwhile a container train service was launched by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani between Islamabad and Istanbul on 14 August 2009. The first train carried 20 containers with a capacity of around 750 t (738 LT; 827 ST) and will travel 6,500 km (4,000 mi) from Islamabad, through Tehran, Iran and on to Istanbul in two weeks' time. According to the Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, after the trial of the container train service, a passenger train will be launched. There are also hopes the route will eventually provide a link to Europe and Central Asia, and carry passengers.

Turkmenistan - via Afghanistan

Revenue earned through Passenger Traffic : Source: Pakistan Railway

Passenger Traffic.

Passenger earnings comprise 50% of the Railways total revenue. During 1999-2000 this amounted to Rs. 4.8 billion. Pakistan Railways carry 65 million passengers annually and daily operates 228 Mail, Express and Passenger Trains. Daily Passengers carried 1,78,000. Pakistan Railways also operate special trains during occasions like congregations of the Dawat-e-Islami and theTableeghi Ijtima.

Freight Traffic: As I quote from Wikipedia :

The Freight Business Unit, with 12,000 personnel, operates over 200 freight stations on the railway network. The Unit serves two major ports of Karachi and Bin Qasim as well as all four provinces of the country and generates revenue from the movement of agricultural, industrial and imported products, Petroleum Oil & Lubricants (POL), wheat, coal, fertilizer, rock phosphate, cement, container traffic and sugar. About 39% of the revenue is generated from the transportation of POL products, 19% from imported wheat, fertilizer and rock phosphate. The remaining 42% is earned from domestic traffic.

The Freight Business Unit offers services to meet customer requirements and reduce costs through efficiency, innovation and modernization. All possible efforts are made to increase revenues and pass on the benefits to customers. The Freight Business Unit is headed by an additional General Manager.

The Freight Rates structure is based on market trends, particularly of road transport, which is the Railways' main competitor. The freight rates are no longer rigid but flexible, depending on the lead, peak-off peak season, and quantum offered.

A container train service was launched by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani between Islamabad and Istanbul on 14 August 2009. The first train carried 20 containers with a capacity of around 750 t (738 LT; 827 ST) and will travel 6,500 km (4,000 mi) from Islamabad, through Tehran, Iran and on to Istanbul in two weeks' time. According to the Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, after the trial of the container train service, a passenger train will be launched.There are also hopes the route will eventually provide a link to Europe and Central Asia, and carry passengers.

------------------------To be continued----------------------------------

 

[Pintu]

There have been plans announced by the previous Musharraf Regime , a. A new line connecting Gadwar and Quetta , and b. conversion of present Bostan-Zhob narrow gauge line to Broad Gauge. However the project announced in 2006, may not have been completed since political uprising in Balochistan, also there are the plans of total electrification of the Railways and expansion plans upto Central Asia, but political turmoil may have prevented this. Also project on the cards are connecting Quetta and Gadwar and a Strategically located railway connection between Rawalpindi to Sost, this connectivity will help Pakistan to trade with China through much easier way, lowering the cost of transportation of Goods. Sost situated in Gozal province of Northern Pakistan (POK) and connected through Karakoram Highways and to Kashgarh in China, there were talks also in 2007 to built a Railway Line in Khunjerab Pass which borders China and Pakistan and by that connecting Rawalpindi with China via Sost, this railway line if completed will have strategic importance for Pakistan, from transport of goods to transport of military equipments if necessary, also will give China , easier access to Pakistani territory. However status of the project is not known also the project bears importance , since present trade throgh Khunjerab post is done only for the period from 15th October to 1st May each year.

 

[Vinod2070]

Great thread Pintu. Keep them coming.

It looks like Bangladesh is progressing better than Pakistan. From a lower base but the trend is better.

 

[Pintu]

Great thread Pintu. Keep them coming.

It looks like Bangladesh is progressing better than Pakistan. From a lower base but the trend is better.

Thanks Vinodji for the kind words, the encouragement , that we all needs, yes, Bangladesh is now much better placed than Pakistan, but again political stability matters there also the political will.

As I am continuing from my previous post , the Railway as like any country , contributes in the economy of the Pakistan. Pakistan Railway carries 6.5 Crore Passenger annually with 228 trains (source: Wikipedia) as of 1999-2000 , revenue earned from passenger traffic which is 50% of Total Revenue , stood Rs. 480 Crore, with 178000 passengers board the Railway Authority runs special Trains in the occasions of traditional festivity.

Freight movement :

Freight unit of Pakistan Railway consists of 12000 personnel and 200 freight stations. Connected to the important ports of Karachi , Bin-Qasim, and all the four major provinces, 42% of the revenue generated form Domestic Tariff while 19% revenue is earned through movement of imported wheat , fertilisers and 39% of transport of petroleum related products. A new freight route is being developed by connecting Istanbul with Islamabad via Tehran, this route will connect Pakistan through Europe. It will take a train to travel 6500 Km distance in two weeks time to Istanbul. However Pakistan have plans to start a passenger train service later on. This proposed link will give Pakistan access to European Countries and strategically located Central Asia.

Developments:

In spring 2009, a railway line connecting Zahedan (Sistan-Baluchistan province, Iran) and Quetta constructed. while the Zahedan connected with Turkey. It will allow Pakistan to access Central Asia and Europe as earlier stated.

A High-speed Railway corridor planned between Punjab and Sindh.

Chinese Involvment:

As I have stated earlier , about the proposals of connecting Pakistan with China , here the quote from Wikipedia :

China-Pakistan Links
Karakoram Railway

Islamabad on Monday awarded a Rs72 million (US$1.2 million) contract to an international consortium to carry out a feasibility study for establishing a rail link with China to boost trade relations between the two countries.

The study will cover a 750-kilometer section between Havellian and the 4,730-meter-high Khunjerab crossing over Mansehra district and the Karakoram Highway. Havellian is already linked with the rest of the rail network in Pakistan; the Chinese will lay some 350 km of track within their own territory from Kashgar terminus up to the Khunjerab Pass, linking Pakistan with China's rail network, largely following the route of the Karakoram Highway.

By expanding its stake in Pakistan's rail sector, China is poised to exploit the country's advantageous geographical position - strategically located at the confluence of South, Central and West Asia.

Beijing's involvement in several rail projects in Pakistan is motivated primarily by commercial considerations, but it also sees distinct advantages for its improved transportation and access to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf states. A reliable network of road and rail links can only ensure China's access to energy-rich central Asia, serving it both commercially and strategically.

In the first week of this month, Pakistan Railways and China's Dong Fang Electric Supply Corp signed an agreement for establishing a rail link between Havellian and Khunjerab. Ingenieurgemeinschaft Lasser-Feizlmayr (ILF), a consortium of consultant engineers from Austria, Germany and Pakistan, is to submit its report to the Ministry of Railways in nine months. It is most likely that the distance between Havellian and Khunjerab will involve the construction of tunnels. The ILF services encompass both the construction of new high-speed railway lines and the modernization of existing lines for standard-gauge and narrow-gauge railways in addition to tunnels.
General Cooperation

China is actively involved in the development of Pakistan Railways and for the past five years it has been increasing its stake in the country's communication sector. Pakistan Railways is a state-owned company that provides an important mode of transportation in the furthest corners of the country. It has been a great integrating force and forms the lifeline of the country by catering to its needs for large-scale movement of people. The freight-passenger earnings comprise 50% of the railway's total revenue. Pakistan Railways carries 65 million passengers annually and operates 228 mail, express and passenger trains daily. It introduced new mail and express trains between major terminals from 2003 to 2005.

Pakistan Railways has recently entered several agreements with Chinese railway companies for its development. In 2001, Pakistan Railways signed a $91.89 million contract with China National Machinery Import and Export Corp for the manufacture of 175 new high-speed passenger coaches. The project was funded by Exim Bank China on a supplier credit basis. Forty completely built passenger coaches have been received and 105 will be assembled in Pakistan Railways' carriage factory by next December.

These coaches are being used on Pakistan Railways' mail and express trains from Rawalpindi-Lahore-Karachi, Lahore-Faisalabad and Rawalpindi-Quetta. The manufacturing kits for the remaining 30 coaches have also been received and manufacturing is in progress. With 12 already assembled, the project is scheduled to be completed by next month. The passenger coaches are of the latest design and are equipped with disc brakes. The technology transfer for these coaches has been obtained from China's Chang Chun Car Co.

Under an agreement signed with China in 2003, Pakistan Railways purchased 69 locomotives, of which 15 were delivered as completely built units and are in use by Pakistan Railways. The remaining 54 are to be built at Pakistan Railways' locomotive factory. The Chinese locomotives are 37% cheaper than the European locomotives.

Some in Pakistan have been criticizing the faulty locomotives purchased by Pakistan Railways from Dong Fang Electric Corp of China. It is surprising that last year, Pakistan Railways decided to purchase 45 more 2,000-3,000-horsepower locomotives from the same company. The company is willing to redesign the already-delivered 30 locomotives of the original order, such that the underframe is strengthened and the weight reduced to less than 140 tons. Last year, as a result of an open bidding, a Chinese company, Beijing Research and Design Institute, is committed to providing 300 rail cars to Pakistan Railways.

Under another agreement signed in 2004 with China National Machinery and Equipment Group, the Chinese company is to undertake the construction of Corridor 1 of a light-rail mass-transit system for Karachi that is intended to serve 4 million commuters. The project will cost about $568 million and take four and a half years to complete. The contract has been awarded on a build-operate-transfer basis and comprises five corridors.

Pakistan signed a series of agreements with China during the past three years to enhance the capability of its railway system. Under an agreement signed between Pakistan and China Railway, a Chinese company will provide 1,300 freight cars to Pakistan Railways, of which 420 will be manufactured in China and the remaining 880 will be produced at the Moghalpura railway workshops in Lahore.

Under another project, 450 passenger coaches will be rehabilitated at an estimated cost of Rs2.14 billion. The project also includes the conversion of 40 coaches into air-conditioned cars and the conversion of 10 power vans. Furthermore, there is a provision of 100 new high-speed bogies, 30 of which will be imported from China, while 70 will be manufactured locally on a transfer-of-technology basis. Under a separate agreement, 175 new passenger coaches are being purchased from China.

As part of a $100 million agreement signed between Pakistan and China in November 2001, China is to export 69 modern locomotive engines to Pakistan to modernize Pakistan's railway fleet. The first eight engines have been completed and are ready for shipment to Karachi. The new engines consume less fuel than older models and are cheaper to maintain. The main feature of this deal is that the first 15 engines will be manufactured in China and the remainder will be assembled in Pakistan, with spare parts and technology provided by China. Similarly, for a Rs7.2 billion railway project in Sindh province involving laying 78,000 tons of rails, China delivered 64,000 tons to Pakistan Railways.

The involvement of Chinese not only give them access to Pakistani territory also to mineral rich and strategically located central Asia.

 

[johnee]

Good thread Pintuda. All the best and keep going.

Actually, Pakistan's initial good economy was thanks to the 'good relations' it enjoyed with countries like US, UAE and China. US gave great amounts of help financially and other clout. UAE gave free oil and ummah support. China gave them regional support. Pakistan had the best condition that any country in the world can hope for. Its economy and military should have zoomed skywards. But, Pakistan has squandered away this advantage by indulging in its fetish of trying to grab Kashmir from India's control and even funding, training and indoctrining terrorists to kill innocent civilians in India. It tried to support secessionist movements in India like Khalistan movement. No wonder, karma has bitten them back. It was Bangladesh that seceded from Pakistan after the brutal treatment meted out to poor bengalis by the arrogant Pakjabis. Pakistan's policy of bleeding India by thousand cuts has specatacularly blown back and today they enjoy the thousand and one cuts administered to them by Taliban(creation of PA themselves) on one side and US(Pakistan's biggest weapons supplier and aid donator) drones on the other side.

 

[Pintu]

^^^ Thanks Johnee for the sweet words and encouragement all that I need and there are some points , but I think there are many threads discussing the political strife and geo political issue , an appeal to everybody please try to keep the discussion in the economic arena and since it is a thread concerning the economic situation of the countries in the sub continent , it will be better if we all keep India out of the discussion. Thanks again johnee.

Regards

 

[johnee]

^^Oh, sorry Pintuda, I had no intention of deviating the thread. Its a good thread, please carry on. I was only trying to make a point that Pakistan never really had a proper economy and their GDP was always made up of handouts by countries like US, UAE and China. Eventaully, Pakistan squandered away this benefit as well to come to the position that it has come to today. In future, if they recover again the best that they can hope for is the arrangement that was before i.e. they use their handouts to create some wealth instead of using it to fund terrorism against India.

Such a country must not be compared with the hard-working Bangladeshis who are actually earning their GDP instead of getting them in alms.

 

[amoy]

Thanks. Particularly interested in following developments
* the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, and likely oil and gas pipeline to China
* Gwadar port and its strategic (economic) implications
* Sino-Pak Karakoram railway

Infrastructures... then comes eco. take-off. China has an industrial park in Pak.

despite things in common (political instability etc.) it seems Pak has a bigger potential while Bangladesh is somehow 'deserted' in geopolitics and routinely devastated by natural disasters.

 

[johnee]

Pakistan has bigger potential but it faces bigger challenges like total radicalization of population, growing terrorism and terrorist groups, political instability, social instability, potential civil war, and a police state run by its Army and its wings. Bangladesh on the other hand is placed in a much better situation. Therefore, a total analysis of all factors tells us that Bangladesh is more aptly placed for better development than Pakistan in this regard.

@Pintuda:
Could you start a similar thread on Nepal and Sri Lanka as well.

 

[Pintu]

I agree you on the points , a new thread will be started as soon as possible , please bear with me , and it will be great if you friends kindly help me with your suggestions and advice as you do always,

Regards

 

[ajtr]

The one thing india should have done long back is to integrate its economy with balgladesh,nepal,srilanka, bhopal and maldives.that way these countries too would have had the inclusive growth with india.But india being india always wakes up late when dragon starts breathing down its neck and then suddenly start reacting to dragon's moves.but the n its never too late.As india started to integrate its economy with srilanka and helping out Bangladesh in tariffs and trade and development.i want to know if india has given MFN status to all the south asian countries.coz india is a huge market oriented economy and hence can help SAARC countries by offering MFN.instead india must withdraw MFN to pak .pak never gave us MFN.

 

[Pintu]

Thanks for the question ajtr , a request as Ritesh have pointed out there is a thread called as 'Indian Economy thread' , we may discuss the issue there.

Regards

 

[Pintu]

As for Civil Aviation , Pakistan is long way to go , Civil Aviation Industry which has a turnover over $ 1 Bn in 2005 (Source: Wikipedia) , is monitored and regulated by Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority and there are 8 international airports as of 2010:

1. Jinnah International Airport, Karachi

2. Allama Iqbal International Airport , Lahore

3. Benajir Bhutto International Airport, Islamabad

4. Peshawar International Airport

5. Multan International Airport

6. Quetta International Airport

7. Faisalabad International Airport

8. Gwadar International Airport

(Source: http://www.caapakistan.com.pk/)


Prior to PCAA , industry was controlled by Ministry of Defence , while PCAA acts as Public Sector Autonomous Body it works through Ministry of Defence of Pakistan .

The Flagship Aviation Company is PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) while it has the rich history of Aircraft Operation and also during 1965 war its service was used for logistics, at present it is going through one of its worst performances as a company , with mounting loss for the consecutive years , the image from Wikipedia is linked below:

others includes : Airblue and Shaheen Air International , interestingly Shaheen Air International is a subsidiary of Shaheen Foundation , welfare organisation managed by Pakistan Air Force.

(Source: Wikipedia)

 

[ajtr]

Henry Kissinger's Bangladesh is No more a 'basket case'

No more a 'basket case'​

Ishtiaq Ahmed

The key to development is a combination of political, economic, social and cultural changes. Bangladesh, once derisively described by Henry Kissinger as the 'world's basket case', could become the most dynamic of all South Asian nations

The news from Bangladesh in the last few years has been consistently good, though we have learnt more about the spectacular political advances that country has made in the last year or so. The political advances should indeed be described as spectacular because in an era salient with the menace of Islamism and terrorism, Bangladesh has most wisely and foresightedly chosen to establish itself as a secular democracy. No doubt the political basis for it was laid when an Awami League Government won a landslide victory in the December 29, 2008 elections, but the crucial decision was taken by the Supreme Court of that country, which declared Bangladesh a secular democracy in constitutional terms.

Later, even more dramatic decisions have been taken, including a prohibition on the issuing of fatwas by the ulema and recently the media has reported that the Government has decided to remove the books of Jamaat-e-Islami's Maulana Maududi from public libraries. The latter decision may irk absolutist champions of the freedom of expression but it can be argued that during the formative phase of democracy, restrictions on the freedom of expression are justified if such freedom threatens peace and harmony.

The writings of the three main ideologues of Islamism: Maududi, Syed Qutb and Imam Khomeini appeal readily to semi-literate Muslims who have failed to enter the modern world and in reaction converted their frustration into damning the modern world as a product of some grand conspiracy against Islam. I consider as semi-literate a rather large portion of South Asian Muslim intelligentsia comprising engineers, doctors, 'scientists', mathematicians, ulema and literally the semi-literates because they have never been exposed to a liberal education that would make them question received wisdom or to the social sciences that tell us that modern human existence is too complex to be reduced to some magic formula of perfection if the wheel of time is turned back to the 7th century.

However, no political reform can succeed if the economic foundations remain inimical to such reform. A secular democracy is premised on the equality of men and women and if women are not empowered then democracy remains a procedural ritual to elect the Government. The empowerment of Bangladeshi women started when a number of NGOs began to promote female economic emancipation and education. In this regard the most well known is the one taken by Grameen Bank of Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, as it started extending small loans to poverty-stricken women with a view to enabling them to set up small businesses and enterprises. Once women acquired the means to earn an income they began to assert their rights and independence, thus denting traditional male domination. The Grameen Bank model of micro-financing has proved to be a thundering success and has now been adopted by both developed and developing countries. The other leading NGO is the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee. It is said to be the largest NGO in the world, and apart from micro-credit, has many other roles such as non-formal education for women. It is now also active in Afghanistan and in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province as well as in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Sudan.

The third initiative is about prioritising such industrial development that can be profitably marketed globally. It was the apparel or garment industry that was chosen for stimulation and expansion. Currently Bangladesh is the fourth largest exporter of apparel after China, the EU and Turkey. It exported over $ 10 billion worth of apparel goods in 2009. Such production was particularly suited to a female workforce and thus proved to be another avenue for providing employment to women and thus empowering them.

Micro-financing, female education and employment in the garment industry has meant that women are less available to produce children against their will. Consequently, the population growth rate in Bangladesh has decreased dramatically from the earlier 2.7 per cent to 1.42 per cent. The total fertility rate that captures the population growth dynamics of a country has also improved positively. In Bangladesh it has declined from 6.85 children per women in 1970-75 to 2.36 in 2005-2010. It means smaller families, and if the family income is improving then it also means that the overall standard of living will improve.

However, such initiatives can bear fruit only if the national outlook is properly geared and focussed on productivity and all-round societal development. The current Awami League Government of Sheikh Hasina decided that cooperation with India instead of confrontation had to be translated into practice. Fortunately for Bangladesh the absence of a large military meant that it never tried to enter into military competition with India. Although right-wing Bangladesh Governments flirted with anti-India rhetoric, there was never any serious attempt to embark upon militarisation. It has enabled Bangladesh to invest its scarce resources into economic production and now the nation is benefiting from such policies. There is no evidence that India is planning to invade that country, and so a major bugbear accentuating the Bangladesh security paranoia is conspicuous by its absence.

The key to development and progress is always a combination of political, economic, social and cultural changes that complement one another. The combined impact of a number of initiatives has been that Bangladesh is currently the calmest country in the region. Thus a country once derisively described by Henry Kissinger as the 'world's basket case' can actually become the most dynamic of all South Asian nations.

Since the Muslim world has the longest-running misogynist record in both time and space, one can theorise with confidence that the progress a Muslim nation has attained can be gauged by the empowerment of women it has achieved. Thus Saudi Arabia and Iran — both filthy rich — would be at the bottom of any ranking about progress and Turkey and Bangladesh at the top.

The second lousy record of the contemporary Muslim world pertains to the situation of religious and sectarian minorities. Once more advanced than medieval Europe, the Muslim world either stagnated at treating non-Muslims as dhimmis (non-Muslim subjects of a state governed in accordance with shariah law), or much worse in persecuting them to either convert to Islam or run away for their lives. Since Bangladesh now constitutionally asserts its secular democratic identity, hopefully the roughly 10 per cent Hindu minority and the minuscule Buddhist tribes will also benefit from their right to equal citizenship.

(The writer is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Stockholm University. He is also Honorary Senior Fellow of the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. He can be reached at [email protected] Courtesy: Daily Times)

 

[Tshering22]

But their Jamaati terrorists will continue to create problems against us with helping ISI terrorists with safe havens. The Awami League is trying their best to help us but their BNP cohorts are a threat to peace in eastern India. Already radical mullahs from the BNP mentality migrate to Assam and Meghalaya and create nuisance for us eastern Indians, rioting and disfiguring temples around the place threatening conversion or death along the warning Sikhs got in Kashmir recently. This stuff isn't covered by any of the national dailies for what reasons I don't know but the people continue to suffer in semi-urban and rural areas of these states.

 

[ejazr]

Bangladesh, 'Basket Case' No More - WSJ.com

Bangladesh, 'Basket Case' No More - WSJ.com

Not long ago, when you thought of a South Asian country ravaged by floods, governed by bumblers and apparently teetering on the brink of chaos, it wasn't Pakistan that came to mind. That distinction belonged to Bangladesh.

Henry Kissinger famously dubbed it a "basket case" at its birth in 1971, and Bangladesh appeared to work hard to live up to the appellation. For the outside world, much of the country's history can be summed up as a blur of political protests and natural disasters punctuated by outbursts of jihadist violence and the occasional military coup.

No longer. At a reception Friday for world leaders attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Barack Obama congratulated Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed for receiving a prestigious U.N. award earlier in the week. Bangladesh was one of six countries in Asia and Africa feted for its progress toward achieving its Millennium Development Goals, a set of targets that seek to eradicate extreme poverty and boost health, education and the status of women world-wide by 2015.

Bangladesh has much to be proud of. Its economy has grown at nearly 6% a year over the past three years. The country exported $12.3 billion worth of garments last year, making it fourth in the world behind China, the EU and Turkey. Against the odds, Bangladesh has curbed population growth. Today the average Bangladeshi woman bears fewer than three children in her lifetime, down from more than six in the 1970s.

The country's leading NGOs—most famously the microcredit pioneer Grameen Bank—have earned a global reputation. Relations with India are on a high. In August, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee signed off on a $1 billion soft loan for Bangladeshi infrastructure development, the largest such loan in India's history.

Perhaps most strikingly, Bangladesh—the world's third most populous Muslim-majority country after Indonesia and Pakistan—has shown a willingness to confront both terrorism and the radical Islamic ideology that underpins it. Since taking office in 2009, the Awami League-led government has arrested local members of the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the al Qaeda affiliate Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami-Bangladesh, and Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, a domestic outfit responsible for a wave of bombings in 2005.

In July, the Supreme Court struck down a 31-year-old constitutional amendment and restored Bangladesh to its founding status as a secular republic. The government has banned the writings of the radical Islamic ideologue Abul Ala Maududi (1903-79), founder of Jamaat-e-Islami, the subcontinent's most influential Islamist organization. Maududi regarded warfare for the faith as an exalted form of piety and encouraged the subjugation of women and non-Muslims. A long-awaited war crimes tribunal will try senior Jamaat-e-Islami figures implicated in mass murder during Bangladesh's bloody secession from Pakistan.

Of course, it will take more than a burst of entrepreneurial energy and political purpose before Bangladesh turns the corner for good. The long-running feud between Prime Minister Wazed and her main rival, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Khaleda Zia, makes that of the Hatfields and McCoys look benign by comparison. The war of ideas against the country's plethora of Islamist groups requires the kind of sustained pressure that Dhaka has been unable to apply in the past. And garment exports notwithstanding, the economy remains shallow.

Despite these caveats, Bangladesh ought to be held up as a role model, especially for the subcontinent's other Muslim-majority state. Arguably no two countries in the region share as much in common as Pakistan and Bangladesh, two wings of the same country between 1947 and 1971. With 171 million people and 164 million people, respectively, they are the world's sixth and seventh most populous countries. Both have alternated between civilian and military rule. In terms of culture, both layer Islam over an older Indic base.

Yet when it comes to government policies and national identity, the two countries diverge sharply. As a percentage of gross domestic product, Islamabad spends more on its soldiers than on its school teachers; Dhaka does the opposite. In foreign policy, Pakistan seeks to subdue Afghanistan and wrest control of Indian Kashmir. Bangladesh, especially under the current dispensation, prefers cooperation to confrontation with its neighbors.

Perhaps most importantly, Bangladesh appears comfortable in its own skin: politically secular, religiously Muslim and culturally Bengali. Bangladeshis celebrate the poetry, film and literature of Hindus and Muslims equally. With Pakistanis it's more complicated. The man on the street displays the same cultural openness as his Bangladeshi counterpart, but Pakistan also houses a vast religious and military establishment that seeks to hold the country together by using triple-distilled Islam and hatred toward India as glue.

In a way their best known national heroes sum up the two country's personalities. For Bangladesh, it's Grameen Bank's Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, synonymous with small loans to village women. For Pakistan: Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue nuclear scientist who peddled contraband technology to Libya, Iran and North Korea.

Nearly 40 years ago, only the most reckless optimist would have bet on flood-prone, war-ravaged Bangladesh over relatively stable and prosperous Pakistan. But with a higher growth rate, a lower birth rate, and a more internationally competitive economy, yesterday's basket case may have the last laugh.