Foreign policy

While too many cooks spoil the broth, coordination is absolutely a must for running a vast, complicated transport system in a city of over 10 million -- indiscriminate residents, indisciplined crowd -- and technical expertise at the planning level handled by a mixture of local and foreign consultants. They city commuters have become victims of loopholes in new experiments being tried by the different authorities every now and then. Why make 10 million residents guinea pigs for unfruitful experiments?

There are several components classified as problem areas, namely, the unauthorised use of crowded footpaths (and too few footpaths, and that too without proper width), the non-popularity of the overhead pedestrian crossings or bridges, the untrained rickshaw drivers, and the majority of motorised vehicles and drivers who have fake certificates or license (what percentage prosecuted?).

Then the majority of the Traffic Police are undertrained and dishonest. To top it all, the system losses in the political regimes is questionable. How the regulators are shirking their responsibilities is very transparent!

Just one small example: the DCC has failed to come up with the planning and construction of several thousand authorised bus stops on the city roads. How the ticket booths have been dismantled (in periodic raids), and the ticket sellers of the bus services are sitting on stools. The incoming buses line up on the main roads alongside these makeshift bus stops, blocking flowing traffic. The bus route numbers are not displayed properly and uniformly on the buses and at the stops. It is pandemonium, with the queue culture still in infancy. Many buses run with no standing passengers allowed inside, but this rule is being violated time and again. What has happened to the ladies' seats? Equality, no discrimination?

BRTC, has been announcing putting more buses on the roads, but the bus stops cannot cope with the expanded services. Cycle pedal rickshaws are being made scapegoats for the traffic problems of the metropolis, while the majority of the residents use rickshaws as commuters! The problems of the middle classes are being ignored, and unpractical schemes are being put into operation, and then changed with new projects!

Restrictions are being imposed on movements without first setting into motion alternative arrangements. The school going children and female commuters are suffering due to restrictions on the rickshaws. The employment or unemployment of thousands of rickshaw drivers is a separate issue (sources of livelihood for the marginalised population).

I have a few comments to make on your lead story regarding the Foreign Ministry (DS March 6th) . It is true that the Foreign Ministry has failed to articulate our foreign policy effectively. However, a product sells as good as it is. The adverse propaganda against Bangladesh abroad cannot be stemmed by the Missions. This must be done at home where the failure of the government at good governance is an issue that our diplomats, even if they are replaced by the best, cannot overcome by any diplomatic skill. If the country has a Leader of the opposition and a former PM telling foreigners that we are a terrorist, fundamentalist, communal and corrupt nation, then why blame the Foreign Ministry or the poor diplomats for contributing to our depressing image abroad?

The issue concerning the Foreign Minister was also over-emphasised. It is true that he did not contribute much to the Foreign Ministry. His "Look East" initiative was built in the press and had no substance. Then he has brought Bangladesh to a position where never in history did we have had such a bad relation with our most important neighbour. His ill- contemplated

outbursts against India are now bearing fruits as India keeps us on our tenterhooks with its participation (or lack of it) in the Saarc Summit.

However, a lot of what the FM did in leading the Ministry were perhaps not his initiatives. The same sources that are now wishing his departure must have encouraged, for example, his stand against India. Then the PM kept a FS for nearly 4 years and now with nothing but failure to show, he is being sent to Washington! His replacement is coming from New Delhi at a time when our relations with India are at their worst. Thus it looks like it is just not the FM and his Ministry but the government as a whole has lost control over the country's foreign policy.

The changes contemplated show signs of further worry for those who may be looking at the Foreign Ministry with hope.