Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 528 Mon. November 21, 2005  
   
Letters to Editor


Saarc and Sheikh Hasina


Although I am not a member of the Awami League, I have tremendous respect for its leader former prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Her words and actions, whether in Power or in Opposition greatly influence the lives of Bangladeshis everywhere. Therefore, along with my respect I also have a great deal of high expectations from her.

Unfortunately, her decision not to attend the 13th Saarc Summit here in Dhaka does not meet the standard of my expectation from her. I believe, whatever may be her reasons, she made a big mistake by not attending the Summit and missed an opportunity to be viewed as a world-class leader. The worst part of the whole thing is that she is giving an excuse of Monga for her such decision. She was visiting the Monga-affected areas and distributing food among hungry people while the Summit was going on in Dhaka. Her feelings for hungry people of Monga-affected areas cannot be denied; however, I will most definitely question her sense of judgement as a leader and the timing to show such feelings for the affected people. Could she have employed her trusted party members to distribute food among the hungry people for a mere three or four days on her behalf while she could have attended the Summit? Or was she using Monga as an escape route for not attending this historic Summit? I hope not.