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Your business page (22nd Dec) makes interesting but rather confusing reading. Not being a businessman the intricacies of garment export is not my cup of tea. However, as a matter of interest, your staff correspondent's report based on the statement of the director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue is that our negotiators led by our commerce minister "failed to make use of the country's political connections and mobilize political clout to withstand pressure". If this is so, then where goes the recent SAARC?
   In contrast, BDNews reports that our finance and planning minister termed the exclusion of Bangladesh's textiles from duty-free and quota-free market access in the WTO draft deal as a success! "This is not a disappointment", he is quoted as saying. Does it mean that our export pricing is competitive and with lifting of quotas we will be able to export more garments in open international market, which is now restricted by quotas?
   However, the CPD's observations are very critical of the Bangladesh delegation's technical know how and understanding of the subject matter. Their statement, "We do not know whether top most persons in Dhaka were engaged in the process during the crucial time of negotiation", is an open ended adverse comment about our official delegation. Another statement, "The situation aggravated further when a separate group (G14+1) was set up under Bangladesh's initiative at a later stage without any proper understanding", only reinforces the lack of knowledge and skill of our official team.
   However, the finance minister had the knife at the media in the BDNews report where he criticized the media for focusing negative issues only! One only wonders what the reality is. Maybe the BGMEA will throw light on the matter. Only time will tell who is right, the CPD or the finance minister?
   SA Mansoor
   Gulshan, Dhaka

Your voluminous annual chockfull of stories was wonderful to behold. Bangla has many such anthologies coming out, but not English. I do not know if yours is a first but it certainly was a most pleasurable moment. I had been intending to e-mail my feelings but in this rate race, I did not have the chance until now. I am a bit off colour so I take the opportunity to finally send this.
   ‘Children...education...Taka 4000..polao and eggs...happiness.’ If we in Bangladesh have such writers as Towheed Feroze, then why are we, the readers and bookworms, being denied the regular indulgence of this TF Harry Potter thrill. I read the first sentence and kept going. I wanted to check, if the ending was OK or if the writer had ruined it (something stupid writers all over the world and through all ages have done). But I just could not tear myself away to check, even though fear from bitter experience as a bookworm was gnawing at me.
   In fact, the story in this collection about the rickshawallah with the same name as the passenger had an ending I couldn't relish at all, although the narrative had gripped me. The same with the brother-sis story.
   After the TF story, I came across Shahnoor Wahid's story and read the ending first! Then went on to read the whole story. It was good as a cautionary tale with the happy ending providing an intriguing display of human intelligence in solving a perennial problem. It did not feel so much a true to life account as a fable presenting a moral lesson. Its high watermark was the natural liveliness in the husband-wife scenes.
   However, the TF story was different from all others in being not at all heavy going. The story reads so ‘n-o-w!’, so ‘with it!!’ T-h-i-s is the Third Millennium narrative. Plain, matter of fact and tension packed. One cannot put it down until the end is reached. One can understand how that certain reviewer felt when he read Ian Fleming's Casino Royale - he read it to the end, by that time it was way past midnight - 3 am in fact. The running narrative breaks scenes in two places but there are no rows of asterisks to denote the break. Is this a new print style? Or did the concerned editor not check?
   Whereas when reading the TF story I got glued from the first sentence and couldn't unglue myself. As far as other storytellers are concerned (throughout the year), I have to constantly tell myself not to turn the page and go to other pieces, but to ‘read’ what is in front of me. ‘Give it a try,’ my mind urges. ‘It might be good. (Otherwise I might be missing something, overlooking something worthwhile.’ Unfortunately, it rarely is. But it is not easy to make eye contact with the words. In the case of TF… it was a breeze.
   Now all I can say is your Towheed Feroze had better continue writing stories every now and then (but not ‘then’ as much as ‘now!’). Otherwise I shall turn up at New Age, identify him and... I shall be compelled to do this, if I, a reader, get frustrated. And there is no fury, let me tell you like a thwarted bookworm. To cut it short, should there be no more stories or only an annual hiccup, I shall be waiting - no, not in a dark alley - but on the road, when he goes home - wherever it be.
   Ayesha Imran
   On e-mail

The German philosopher F Hegel had a hard time making the point that there is a philosophy of history. He was called too philosophical to discover a philosophy in history. But with the passage of time he was proved right in his view that history too has its own philosophy. Great historians like Edward Gibbons or Arnold Toynbee did not see history as a record of the past only, they rather discovered an amazing chronicle of mankind in the pages of history. History and eternity travel hand in hand. Every moment of our life, its literature, poetry or a drama, becomes a part of history the next moment. Our perception of the past needs to be based on all the aspects which directly or indirectly shape our life. Human emotion is a driving force which plays a direct role in shaping history.
   Edward Gibbons in his famous history of the Roman Empire used his personal emotions to describe the facts of that time. My personal view is that we sometimes use emotions more than the facts while interpreting a certain fact of history. Edward Gibbons did not do that. He described facts in terms of both philosophy and emotion. In the Indian sub-continent, history always finds it hard to be described as true history. There are many Muslims who are very shy about accepting ancient Indian history as their own and on the other hand there are many Hindus who try to belittle the Muslim part of Indian history. This is not the right intellectual sprit. When Muhammad Ali Jinnah forwarded his Two Nation theory to divide India along religious lines he was very communal in saying that the Mahabharata and Ramayana did not belong to Indian Muslims. This was the beginning of a misinterpretation of Indian history. In the academic sphere when we read about the Indus and Harappa civilizations we are not mean to call it the history of the Hindus but at the same time we feel proud of the Sultanate or Mughal period. We do not give Chhatrapati Shivaji his right place in history because he rebelled against the Mughal empire. Some Muslims do have high respect for Sultan Mahmood of Ghazni who came to plunder India seventeen times, only because he was a Muslim. The time has come to change attitudes on both sides. The history of India has fascinated the whole intellectual world not because ancient India conquered many foreign lands. The reason for such interest lies in the deep philosophical backgrounds of ancient Indian literature such as the Upanishads, Vedas and many other scripts.
   The famous European philosopher Romain Rolland once said, ‘Only a saint can understand India.’ That was a great tribute to a very spiritual land. India has three great poets, Mirza Ghalib, Rabindranath Tagore and Allama Iqbal. I understand that no individual of conviction will opine that all these great poets do not belong to him or her. How many Muslims have ever tried to read the Upanishads, Vedas or Mahabharata? The number will be very insignificant. I strongly feel that we should open up and strive to reach better understanding among ourselves in the interest of posterity.
   Akbar Hussain
   On e-mail

Sorry I've been away, haven't been too well. I'm better now and ready to take on the world again.
   Thanks to Asad Chowdhury for his comments. Thank you for reading my humble submissions, Mr Chowdhury, I appreciate them, and I try to learn from them.
   I disagree with you, in that a writer's freedom is not constrained by your somewhat limited vision of what a person can and cannot write. I really don't care if I broach your personal limits of what is acceptable, and your judgement of my rights to write because I am British.
   I write about what I see, my emotions, desires, dislikes and my vision of some kind of future, for all of us.
   I have never described Bangladesh as a beggar. It is a country I love, and I have many dear Bangladeshi friends. That does not close my eyes. I see, and I write. If it makes you uncomfortable, tough, don't read it. That is your freedom, just as I have mine.
   I would like to go to the Sunderbans with a beautiful woman and a bottle of Scotch at any time. I would not encroach upon your personal religious beliefs if I did. You have your way of living, let me have mine.
   I don't think I have insulted ‘your’ women. Again, I look, I see and I write. It is my freedom.
   Cultures survive by changing and growing, not by being restrained by cant and dogma.
   Civilised? Let's share a good meal, some fine wine, and talk about the world. You might find me acceptable company…….
   Richard J Murphy
   Somewhere in England

My apologies to Shabbir Bashar (letter, Dec 11th.). My remark concerning expatriates was badly put, and not well considered. I certainly meant no slur upon Bangladeshi expatriates, and I'm sorry for giving that impression.
   My honest opinion of Asian expatriates in Britain is that they have been a wonderful asset to the country. They work hard, obey the law, and have a lifestyle to be admired. They are brave to face a different culture, and sometimes the intolerance of racists.
   I have always opposed restraints upon immigration from South Asia. We have gained much from their presence, and I'm proud to count many among my friends.
   I hope this makes amends for my comments, Mr Bashar.
   Richard Murphy
   Somewhere in England

The All-India Mohammedan Educational Conference was held in Dhaka in December 1906. Nawab Salimullah, chairman of the reception committee and convener of the political meeting, proposed the creation of the All-India Muslim League. It was on 30 December at the Nawab’s family garden house in Shahbagh Dhaka. Nawab Viqar-ul-Mulk, chairman of the conference, supported the motion and thus the All India Muslim League (AIML) came into being.
   Finally, in 1947, Pakistan was divided off from British India, with East Pakistan and the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP) comprising the new state. The local Bangladeshi populace had welcomed Biharis, at that time, with open arms.
   The Urdu-speaking Biharis were not assimilated within the society of Bangladeshis and remained as a discrete cultural-linguistic group. They normally coupled and branded themselves with the West Pakistani society mostly based on a shared linguistic heritage and supported the West Pakistanis in the capture of economic and political power in Bangladesh (former East Pakistan).
   One could bring up numerous reasons for the same. In 1956, Pakistan became a republic as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Awami League took over the government led by Hussain Shaheed Suhrawardy as prime minister. Later, a political crisis helped to suspend the constitution and the country was renamed as Republic of Pakistan. Consequently martial law was proclaimed by the army commander-in-chief.
   Bangladeshis had a litany of grievances. The leaders of Pakistan could not understand the sensibilities of the people living in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, justice and fair play was not followed in its entirety. A genocide committed by the then Pakistani military government provoked a bloody liberation war that resulted the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, and the Biharis were left behind as the Pakistani army and civilians surrendered in Dhaka and were evacuated to India.
   In January 1972, Bangladeshi troops were ordered to confiscate all weapons, but they met with fierce resistance when they approached the Bihari enclave of Mirpur, Dhaka. Since then they have not engaged in any violent activities that would be considered as a rebellion against the Bangladeshi authorities. Pakistan has generally been indifferent to the plight of the Biharis, despite Bangladesh’s actively pressing Pakistan to repatriate the stranded Pakistanis.
   In 1972, the government of Bangladesh issued Presidential Order No. 149 offering Bangladeshi citizenship to the Biharis. According to government of Bangladesh sources, approximately 600,000 Biharis accepted the offer while 539,669 registered with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and opted to move to Pakistan as their country of nationality.
   A bomb exploded in the southern Pakistan town of Kotri, killing 13 people on January 11, 1993. The bomb was planted in a Bihari colony in Kotri. Again in January 23, 1993 two bombs were set off in shops, killing 22 people and wounding more than 100, allegedly by the Jeeay Sindh, a nationalist group opposed to the immigration of the Urdu-speaking Biharis. Finally, Pakistan’s then interior minister Naseerullah Babar stated that Pakistan would not accept the Biharis from Bangladesh. [Reuters: October 31, 1995]
   Pakistan is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country. The peaceful ethnic coexistence that earlier marked Pakistan’s history seems to have disappeared. One Pakistani writer has stated, ‘Moral relativism and a pervasive blindness towards the sins of the so-called state are the hallmarks of the Pakistan psyche’. Further, he has said, ‘Reason dictates that we recognize our own sins, and hold ourselves to the same moral standards that we hold others to.’
   An article of faith in Pakistan is support for the Palestine cause, while thousands of its own Bihari citizens remain stranded in Bangladesh. I believe there are generational gaps within the community, with younger Biharis wanting to settle in Bangladesh. They could apply for Bangladeshi citizenship rather than lobbying to return to Pakistan.
   Momtaz Ahmed
   Toronto, Canada

I did not understand what you have tried to say in your editorial about patriotism (New Age, December 20). What is incomprehensible is how the returnees from Pakistan influenced this police officer in Barisal to dishonour the national flag! He must not have even been born in 1971 or was perhaps a kid then. I think you are also grossly in error in suggesting that returnees from Pakistan were less patriotic than those who were in 1971 in Bangladesh or in sanctuary in India.
   Let me explain why. In 1971, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis were in then West Pakistan because this was the normal thing for people in government service or for those looking for better economic opportunities. In fact, you have overlooked a very important point here. East Pakistanis before 1971 who had the good fortune or misfortune of being in West Pakistan were in fact more aware of their unfortunate existence as Pakistanis than those who were never there because the former saw first hand the economic disparity between then East Pakistan and West Pakistan that motivated many of them to see the need for an independent Bangladesh or an East Pakistan with real autonomy from a cunning and oppressive Pakistani regime based in West Pakistan. Let me go a step forward and tell you that the six points programme of the AL that galvanized the Bengalis to action that brought a latent Bengali nationalism to the forefront of Pakistani politics before 1971 was to a great extent based on information and statistics that then East Pakistani bureaucrats who lived and worked in West Pakistani revealed to the politicians. In fact, Bangladeshis whom you have maligned as so called returnees had more reason to feel and fight for Bangladesh’s rights than the overwhelming majority of Bangladeshis who never saw the physical manifestation of that disparity because Pakistan before was an unique state where people in the east and people in the west were separated by 1000 miles of then enemy territory. You must also not forget that these so called returnees gave up everything, including property and lives’ savings, and many risked their lives to escape from Pakistan to return to Bangladesh, their motherland.
   Let me argue on a different plane. Patriotism, so the famous saying goes, is the last refuge of the scoundrel. In history, this concept has seldom been used positively but so often used by ultra-nationalists and fascists to force a small group’s opinion on a majority. Therefore please don’t insert a totally irrelevant angle to a crisis in Bangladesh that needs just common sense to overcome. Bangladesh is now a reality. We can either strengthen Bangladesh or destroy it. We can’t go anywhere else. So no Bangladeshi has any hope or future outside this beloved land of ours, the so-called patriots, the Islamists and a new group that you have introduced in this unnecessary equation, the so-called returnees. In today’s Bangladesh, all Bangladeshis have a common destiny. Our country has achieved democracy through sacrifice of blood and, believe it or not, this is sustainable. Sustainable, only if the politicians allow this and also people in other leadership roles do not create unnecessary divisions. Bangladesh will survive and also be secular because our spirit is so and we have proven this in 1971. The Islamists have grown because they have been protected by the very politicians now crying foul against them. Among the people, they never had and never will have any support. So let us not neither waste time on this police officer who can be dismissed (for his offense deserves that) and forgotten nor raise a false alarm based on patriotism.
   Shahjahan Ahmed
   Dhanmandi, Dhaka