MiG-29 and frigate
Ziauddin Ahmed, On e-mail
Mig-29 fighter aircraft and the Korean frigate, which were purchased while the Awami League was in power from 1996-2001, are considered to be fine war machines available for defence purpose. Particularly, MiG-29 is a very sophisticated modern fighter aircraft which is acknowledged by international defence analysts. The Korean frigate is also reported to be a sophisticated one with computerised equipments. May be the MiG-29s and the frigate were purchased at an inflated price by the AL government. My question is, why were these sophisticated fighter aircrafts grounded for more than five years by the BNP government after it came to power in 2001? The BNP government had suspected corruption in these defence purchase deals and therefore filed a case against the previous government. But did this charge of corruption call for grounding the MiG-29s and the frigate? After all, the purchase was made from public exchequer costing hundreds of crores of taka and the machines did not mean to be dumped. This reminds me of a case in India popularly known as Bofors case. In the Bofors case, corruption charges were filed by the BJP against Rajiv Gandhi who was the prime minister of India in the mid-1980s and had purchased the Bofors 155mm howitzer field guns from Sweden. Despite the corruption case against Rajiv Gandhi, the Bofors field guns were not put out of use. During the Kargil war against Pakistan in 1998, the Bofors howitzer field guns proved to be very effective in repelling attacks. The Indian army had nothing but high praise for Bofors howitzer field guns. My point is that the present caretaker government should look into the matter. We are not so rich a country that we can afford to throw away costly defence equipments purchased by previous governments.
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