16th December is our victory day. In 1971 this day marked the victory of the Bengali nationalism, victory of the people of Bangladesh and also the victory of our friends around the world who actively helped and supported us in times of our needs. Apart from the geo-political war-game and real-time ground situations, it was the victory of liberty and freedom in true sense of the term.

Unlike many countries of the world, the day the defeated enemy surrendered was not the day of our independence; it was the day of our victory. Because our independence was declared on 26th March 1971 long before 16 Dec 1971. As such, with the signing of the instrument of surrender between Gen Niazi of Pakistan and Gen Arora of India, not that we became independent, rather this occasion resulted into our victory. No one can say that our independence was a gift from anybody or, for that matter, any country. We were already an independent nation with distinct borders and national esteem, but under the forceful occupation of the enemy. Of course we recognise with earnest gratefulness that others did help us in attaining victory much earlier than it was expected to fight-out alone. In fact, nine months seem to be a considerably short period to defeat Pakistani occupation forces, which enjoyed the support of number of major powers of the world, to name China and America. May be, without an extensive and close support from our big neighbour our struggle to be free from the occupation forces could have taken longer. The moment we achieved victory an extra responsibility befell us: to stand up as an independent nation, with dignity, honour and respect. This responsibility lies even today on every individual citizen of this country, Bangladesh. To render our humble service to that end we must first stand united. On the question of national interest we should leave our minor political differences under the carpet and display a united force internally. In present-day world, technological and economic advantage has taken over the past position of egocentric ignorance, and hence the backwardness. For us the national motto should be 'unity'. In 1969-70 we stood against the repressive regime of President Ayub Khan united. We stood united to repair the damages of devastating cyclone of 12th November 1970 in the southern part of our country. Once again we need to display the force of unity to develop the quality of life in today's Bangladesh.

Externally we shouldn't fail to identify our friends and well-wishers in the world arena, in view of the geo-political environment and individual state-interest. However, our own national security and national interest must be at the top of the agenda. Towards that goal two of the best sons of our country proved their prudence, on the points and policies the country faced at their time. Of course, today a few may question those actions, whereas at large they proved to be correct. Let me cite very sketchy examples.

It's on record that our first president Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman wasted no time in declaring general amnesty towards those who opposed our independence and liberation struggle, almost all the Islamic and most of the leftist parties. He wanted joint-hands and undivided human resources to indulge in the reconstruction of the newborn nation. Then, on the external front he joined the OIC conference at Lahore in 1973 at the invitation of the eminent leaders of the Islamic world. But what many don't know is that, long before the conference, he took the initiative to dispatch his personal envoys to the leading Muslim countries to create a pressure on Pakistan to recognise Bangladesh, making it possible for Bangabandhu to visit Pakistan to attend the OIC conference. In an almost similar way we found President Ziaur Rahman accommodating people in his cabinet and party, who had clear controversial role during the War of Liberation, he being a valiant freedom fighter and a war-leader himself. He wanted to forgive and forget the past for the sake of organising an efficient team to work aiming at the nation's prosperity. On the other front, with an effective and useful foreign policy he established a much closer relationship with the OIC countries (particularly the middle-east states) and big powers (China and USA) that mostly sided with our enemy during the liberation struggle. Indeed, these policies of the two great leaders proved to be enormously beneficial for our nation, in the long run. It was indeed the question of setting the priorities: present national interest and future prospect over the internal politics and difference of the past. We can still follow such examples and forget minor differences of internal politics for the sake of greater national interest.

It is true that we have a large population with a comparatively small landmass, having no natural resources like oil, gold, diamond or minerals. We have a backdated agro-based economy and enough potential for recurrent natural disasters. We are helpless prey to artificially created floods and droughts directly contributed by our big neighbour. We have other problems too. We are burdened with poverty complemented with social hazards of multidirectional and deep-rooted corruption. In addition there are spills and spoils of regional illegal trades (of drugs, small-arms etc) and cross-border corruption. We are in the transit route of the notorious 'golden-triangle', it is said. We can't get rid of them in a single swift move. We need to contain, reduce and finally eradicate them to allow our nation to prosper.

We have problems of illiteracy, insufficient health-care, inefficient governing machinery and immoral leaders in the society. Our united efforts should now be directed against these factors. It's not the blame-game that will rescue us from the ditch that we are pitted in. It's the co-operation and understanding and relentless effort towards tending democracy to give it sustenance. The only viable way to get relief from all the negative situations is to expand and strengthen our educational and technological base and thrive for a stronger economy. The vast manpower that we have needs to be turned into 'useful people', through useful education, IT training and quality development, instead of 'hungry millions'. We should be able to export people useful for the rest of the world and in turn increase the country's size virtually, when the real one is so over-crowded and small for one hundred and forty million.