Nation lagging behind

The other day I happened to watch the talk show on Baishakhi Television. Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed and Bangabeer Kader Siddiky participated in the talk show.
Bangabeer Kader Siddiky lamented in his concluding words that back in 1971, at the time of independence, the then East Pakistan now Bangladesh was ahead of Malaysia and Singapore. Does this imply that independence at such a great cost had an adverse impact on the country? In the words of Bangabeer Kader Siddiquee it did.
The 150 million people of Bangladesh do know that both Singapore and Malaysia are far ahead of Bangladesh. What they do not know is both Singapore and Malaysia were behind the then East Pakistan.
The sacrifice of three million lives will go in vain if we people are deprived of the fruits of independence.