Boy's hot toys!

Buying, servicing and operating submarines is a big time job needing sophisticated technological support, backed by mega dollars. Can we afford it?

Coastal vessels to upgrade the Coast Guard and beef up coastal and riverine preventive capabilities to deter smuggling is all right. But submarines, basically a deadly offensive weapon platform against capital naval ships, is a different ball game! Do we really need these?

The fact of life is that we badly need pure drinking water, good road rail and river communication infrastructure, better healthcare and not sophisticated offensive naval capabilities! The logic of the decision beggars imagination. But then, who are we to question the great decision makers of the realm?

I read in your newspaper yesterday (23 Mar) that the Bangladesh government has decided to buy almost Tk 2,000 crore worth of military hardware including four sub-marines, navy fighters etc. over a period of 12 years or so to give the Bangladesh Navy a "three dimensional capability". Whatever it means, adding an Einsteinian fourth dimension i.e. "time" would have been more appropriate, because time can only tell the truth.

I simply wonder what it is all about, and why, being a poor nation, we need this kind of military luxury.

Fayaz Khan, On e-mail