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The arrest of three people on suspicion of their involvement in forging bank cheques is worrying. It is so because the arrests indicate the degree of criminality that may be going on where the matter of forged cheques as well as counterfeit money is concerned. In recent times, there have been a good number of news reports on the activities of elements engaged in producing counterfeit currency notes. Such currency as Taka 500 notes have in many instances been reported to have been made in suspicious circumstances by gangs involved in the business. Intriguingly, however, once the individuals suspected of involvement in producing counterfeit currency were arrested, nothing further was heard about them or their links with other criminals down the line. In much the same manner, the detection and arrest of people involved in the production of forged passports and even visas of different embassies have remained beyond the knowledge of the country. Maybe there has also been a failure of the national media here in the sense that they failed to follow through on such incidents. All too often, it has been observed that while initially the media take keen interest in any detection of crime, at a subsequent stage their interest level declines and ultimately comes to an end altogether.
   But that, however, is little reason for the authorities not to be able or willing to expose everyone who is in any way linked to crime. The problem with such criminal activities as the making of fake passports and the production of counterfeit currency notes is that it leaves good, law-abiding citizens in a state of growing frustration. Sometimes the frustration turns into humiliation, especially when at airports or at shops those responsible for dealing with passports or handling money make it a point to linger long and hard at the objects in their hands before resolving the issue. And all this while, the good citizen is almost turned into a prospective criminal. In the end, what we are all saddled with is the idea of a society where every individual looks askance at every other individual. Trust becomes a casualty. In the long run, every social act is looked upon by people as something that surely has a ring of the negative about it. In other words, it is corruption that people begin to smell and all too often they are proved right. A bigger issue is one of how much the authorities can do about keeping a check on such criminal activities when there are powerful people, both inside and outside the government, busily engaged in the job of turning black money into white. The fact that nothing has really been done to deal with organised crime at the higher levels of society certainly gives a spurt to criminality at the lower tiers of it. Eventually, it is the nation which pays the price. One hears, year in and year out, a lot about the corruption of politicians. In reality, the situation is one where politicians, those in office and those out of it, appear to be deeply protective and caring about one another. No one gets punished. Politicians who were ministers two decades ago and have had no clear source of income since continue to live in style. And then there are the minions of powerful politicians who, within a year or two of their patrons having come to power, end up buying property abroad. There are politicians who publicly wage war against corruption and yet whispers abound about the corruption they and their children indulge in.
   It is a vicious cycle of criminality we survive through. But someone, some good people, must someday bring it all to an end if national self-esteem is to be restored.

Ambulances for trees

Almost all countries have made serious and concerted efforts to safeguard the environment. A recent report in a Bangla daily informs us that in Chile a new ambulance service to provide emergency service to dying and vulnerable trees has begun operating. Under this system, if a call is placed through an SOS number, an ambulance and a field specialist are dispatched to provide special attention to dying trees. Now, to many this piece of news might appear funny to the point of being burlesque, but it is only people with foresight who will appreciate this move.
   As we talk of trees, we look at ourselves and are faced with an uninterrupted process of devastation. In the district towns trees are cut down every day and, in the Sundarbans, trees are allowed to succumb to top-dying disease. The situation in the world’s largest mangrove forest has become so desperate that hundreds of trees are either dying or are being felt by illegal loggers with the help of corrupt forest officials. In addition, the Sundari trees also face excess salination, the inevitable consequence of which is death.
   In such a situation, we will not be incorrect in assuming that in a list of countries responsible for the worst kind of environmental degradation, we will feature quite prominently. Here the systematic strangulation of nature goes on before the authorities. It is indeed unfortunate that when a country introduces ambulance service for trees, we are gleefully cutting them down. But saving nature will bring us wealth in the long run, perhaps not in hard currency but definitely in ways that will reduce natural disasters, ensure a better environment and provide fresh air.
   Though we admire the step in Chile, it would be foolhardy to expect that something similar will happen in Bangladesh. But, can we not take a lesson from the Chileans? If they are so concerned about nature, we can at least stop the reckless felling of trees in the dwindling forests of the country. Maybe providing special care to trees will not be feasible in Bangladesh but we can be a bit more active in fighting the top-dying disease in the Sundarbans. Time and again other countries with their revolutionary pro-environment moves have proved that to come to the aid of Mother Nature, a bold step is enough. For some inexplicable reason, we seem to lack this enterprising quality.

That the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs has a specific and special role to play in overseeing and monitoring the conduct of our foreign affairs and also assess the various policies and their probable options perhaps needs no advocacy. It augurs well for the country when the committee becomes energised and actively pursues some very constructive measures. Sometime back I had in one of my columns made a pointed reference to a role that SC on Foreign Affairs should play with immediate effect and that is by asking the Foreign Office to send the ambassadors-designate for a Parliamentary Committee appearance before the appointments are finally approved. The FA Committee should have a full hearing on what the country’s representatives abroad have to say about their knowledge of the countries of their accreditation, about Bangladesh’s economy, its political and social parameters and above all, what they plan to achieve during their tour of duty abroad in some specific, actionable terms. Just seniority up the career ladder is certainly not enough for winning such a responsible mantle, unless the nominees do project and prove their ability to understand , analyse and ably represent to advance the country’s  image and interests, at the high level they are about to be installed.
   We are all impressed by the lead taken by the FA Committee to go on a visit to India. Here I wish to observe that a visit by the MPs will only be helpful if preparatory work is done in full, covering some of the major issues and having a clear idea as how to deal with India’s known position as well as with their exceedingly capable defence of their own interests. Many of the insightful write-ups published in our leading dailies do give a wide spectrum of valuable analyses and inputs to assist formulation of our viewpoints, perhaps more than one can obtain from the routine, run-of-the-mill briefings, if at all, emanating from the Foreign Office.
   Rashed Ahmed’s letter ‘MPs plan to visit India’(28 May 05) and the pithy comment ‘in the hands of the Foreign Ministry, our foreign relations are drowning’ do indeed put things more tersely than I thought I had been able to do in my 2-part article ‘Bangladesh – story of failed diplomacy?’ (12 -13 May ‘05). However, he could have quoted some instances to drive home the point perhaps with greater force.
   In further support of the premises in my above-noted article, if it is at all necessary, I would like to mention the hugely ignorant and non-professional rejoinder our Foreign Ministry chose to send on the US Assistant Secretary of State’s visit to Delhi, prior to her coming over to Dhaka earlier in May. The Foreign Ministry strongly denied the veracity of the media report that Ms. Rocca had discussed Bangladesh and Nepal while meeting Indian External Affairs officials in Delhi. The original report was found to be indeed true and the relevant website was hurled at the Foreign Office’s face. Now this shows even to a layman that there has been a total absence of correct feedback from our New Delhi Mission as well as a naive, moronic assumption in the ministry itself that such a discussion by Rocca in Delhi was not possible. Whereas it is not only logical that such a discussion would take place, it is an evolving US strategy to put Bangladesh in India’s lap, which our Foreign Office experts ought to have known following Condoleezza Rice’s visit to India only a few weeks ago. And above all, such a rejoinder was totally uncalled for on a  patently non-issue, since by all known diplomatic practice, such discussions do take place about neighbouring countries on very many outstanding and involved issues. Or do our Foreign Office high-ups assume that the bagful of issues between India and Bangladesh has already been resolved?
   Our total inability to impress Ms. Rocca about the just nature of our position vis-à-vis India has also been evident from the headline report on her news conference in Dhaka , which, inter alia , had this, ‘Asked about India’s ‘big brotherly’ attitude towards her neighbours, including Bangladesh, on the issues like water sharing and border disputes, Rocca said that those were bilateral and regional issues, ‘but India as a big democracy could play a positive role both regionally and globally’ (13 May 2005).
   On this theme of the Foreign Office’s rather mysterious trend of total inability to predict events happening even under their very nose has again been fully exposed by our Kuwait mission affairs. Is it believable that the steam that led to the move of hundreds of Bangladeshi workers to invade their own embassy, despite the well-known strictness of the Gulf countries over workers’ conduct, has been generated overnight? Are we to seriously believe that the embassy had no clue as to what had been going on outside its four walls? And if the embassy officials did know, they did not do enough to defuse the situation. Either way the post-event handling with the ambassador’s alleged unprofessional comments was, to say the least, disastrous. Can things come to such a pass when the other involved ministries and agencies having their officials in the embassy have also had no inkling as to such an outburst by our workers? This aspect of a possible failure ought to be enquired into as well.
   That our missions abroad, mostly, have become post offices, just routine work performing outposts, has been so evident during my travels as it must have to many others as well. We have already seen as to how our New Delhi mission (the largest, I recall ) has  become increasingly a cipher - with myriads of
   problems cropping up  and with no visible signs of any solution to any of these issues. Our mission not only cannot arrange the long, over due JRC meetings,
   it has been unable to brief the government correctly in many crucial areas , including the mega river-linking project that India has in an advanced stage of implementation. Have any of our High Commissioners in the last ten years or so  been as vocal, say, as the  present Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri, who has been seeking fairly vigorously to convince us that the inter- river linking project is still at a conception stage? Let our Foreign Office adviser offer a humorous suggestion to Ms. Sikri that such a long conception is hazardous for health and India ought to do a CS immediately. And in all probability, a very large tumour would be discovered with a question whether it is malignant to the bilateral relations that Ms.Sikri is supposed to enhance.
   Let me also mention the situation in the United Kingdom. We have a High Commission (a very large one at that) which somehow or the other has morphed into an agency for the Bangladeshi community. All its activities, all the engagements of the Head of Mission and other senior diplomats are overwhelmingly community-centred and community-driven. I must make it clear here and now that this aspect is certainly one of our most crucial and high-priority areas. But the diplomatic mission, especially in London, has wide-ranging responsibilities to discharge in the overall interest of the country it represents. The British media, the parliamentary groups, the huge economic, commercial interests and the contact with institutions of education and research, the relevant NGOs / international organizations and so forth, should take centre stage in our diplomatic activities, long overdue, to be factual, apart from the obvious contacts with the British government itself. One does wonder why there has not been a full official prime ministerial visit from our side to Britain for several long years.
   Let me recall the battering we continue to receive, not only to our Test ambitions so far, to our overall image even to this day. David Hopps (the Guardian 25 May 2005) wrote under a sleek title, ‘A debutant to get the English Dancing’ that ‘Bangladesh in spite of its poverty, in spite of the fact that it is ranked as the most corrupt nation in the world….’.  A rejoinder rejecting such an assertion on patently tenuous grounds is called for. I wonder whether the Press Minister and the High Commissioner have seen this and sent a well - reasoned letter marshalling some forceful arguments in defence of the nation’s image and reputation, against such spurious and uninformed comments in a context that certainly did not warrant the same.
   Two years or so back a similar media report in London made me send a spontaneous reply, even though I happened to be a retired person on a personal visit. I do recall that then High Commissioner Sheikh Razzak Ali had so very thoughtfully written to me. ‘I acknowledge receipt of your e-mail dated 06 February 2003. I do very sincerely express my thanks. In fact, I was on home leave from 07 January until 05 February 2003 and was quite in the dark about the news item published on 02 February 2003 captioned, ‘They’re torturing us’, written by Mr. Bruno Sorrentino.…. . However, your letter to the Sunday Mail, London, dated 3rd February 2003 has amply clarified the ill-designed and mischievous activities of Bruno and his colleagues. The whole nation should be thankful to you and, of course, I am.’
   Could I finally express a hope that the Press Wing and the High Commission have read the rather interesting updated assessment of Britain-Sylhet links in Sarah Oliver’s 3-page despatch from Sylhet ‘Now we’re exporting curry….to Bangladesh’ highlighting ‘in one of the world’s poorest countries, a booming economy is being built with the profits from your favourite High-Street restaurant’ (The Mail on Sunday, Review, May 29, 2005)? There are quite a few observations that require attention and analysis for our own understanding, and if necessary, for further in-depth evaluation. Let me make a few comments hoping more knowledgeable people would do a more comprehensive study.
   Description of Sylhet on some ridiculous grounds as ‘’ a state within a state ‘’is quite disturbing, as are the assertions that Aids/HIV cases there are way above national average, and that the number of drug addicts in Sylhet is on the rise and are being treated at more than 20 clinics there, including Marie Stopes, which also runs rehabilitation courses for drug victims. Another comment that ‘’ the proximity of drug-producing nations such as Pakistan and the fact that impoverished Bangladesh is a veritable drugs highway for South East Asian cartels......’’, should be forthwith rejected. These and many other comments require our closest scrutiny and appropriate attention. Has the Press Minister in London , for that matter has the High Commissioner, been in personal touch with some of the senior journalists in major dailies on regular basis, as such contacts and briefings even in a small way so much help our interests and image?
   I wonder and I am sure we all do. And we are also sanguine that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be at it with its usual expertise and enthusiasm. Again we all wait and wonder!
   The writer is a former ambassador and secretary to the government of Bangladesh