Letter from US Senators
H. Taufiq Choudhury, Attorney at Law, New York
Your editorial on 18 May characterises the tone of the US Senators' letter as unfortunate and unacceptable. I express my strong belief that this letter and other frequent interferences by US politicians are just that - interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation. While every individual anywhere in the world can, and should protest what he or she reasonably perceives to be wrongdoing by a government - the disagreement should not come in a schoolmasterly fashion as in the case of this letter. Not only is this an affront to us as a nation, but it is also insulting that the very Senators who supported President Bush in going to the unjust war in Iraq are taking the moral high ground. Just as an aside, some of your readers may recall the time when the then First Lady Senator Clinton alluded to the need for a separate state for the Palestinians and almost immediately disowned it after being attacked by the pro-Israeli lobby. These days it seems it's not the false sense of superior morality alone but the fact of owning the big stick that prompts the US administration and lawmakers to pronounce what other nations ought to do.Unfortunately, the blame for this lies with us Bangladeshis in the country and abroad to a great extent. The political leaders almost made it a practice to have their policies guided by foreign powers, solicited blessings and sought mediation of foreign diplomats in matters truly concerning the Bangladeshi people only. Here in the United States, the expatriate Bangladeshis have been quick to mobilize lawmakers to support causes of their favourite parties forgetting the fact that it is demeaning for an independent nation to be reminded every now and then how it should behave. Obviously, our fellow expatriates see no humiliation in this. Whereas they could have used the same clout to lobby for broader access of Bangladeshi goods to the US, for instance, they are engaged in the game of political one-upmanship. But however much the blame lies with our leaders and fellow expatriate Bangladeshis, it is up to the foreign meddlers to refrain from imposing their will on a small nation.
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