US CDA meets the Awami
League: unbelievable!
Unbelievable! I was simply astounded when I was watching the TV news in the evening of March 9 on the ATN. The newscaster was telling the viewers that the CDA of the US embassy has started a series of meeting beginning with the Awami League on the election roadmap! She will then call the BNP and the other political parties to talk with them about Bangladesh’s next elections. Is the CDA writing a new chapter in diplomacy where the USA considers it their duty to guide and cajole an ‘uncivilised’ country such as Bangladesh about the virtues of a democratic system and how to go about establishing it?
The CDA’s action is an astounding one that kicks the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations that says that diplomats are strictly forbidden from interfering in the internal affairs of the host country on the face. It is equally astounding that the Awami League that claims credit for leading Bangladesh in the war of liberation that established our independence went to meet the CDA to be told how to go about establishing democracy and that too in a month when we get together as a nation to reassure ourselves of the objectives that led so many of our countrymen to seek martyrdom.
I have little faith in the foreign ministry and never had much. The people there have never cared much about anything but themselves. Unfortunately, the nation’s honour leaves us with no alternative but to plead with them to call the US CDA and remind her that what she is doing has no sanction in the way diplomatic relations between nations are conducted and in fact is indecent. If the ministry lacks the courage to do the right thing, let them be reminded that this is not even an ambassador in question here but a CDA who is a junior level officer in the US State Department. Someone in this government please help the country save its honour!
Shahahjahan Ahmed
Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Trying missions in the media
The ACC has thought it proper to indict the Bangladesh embassy in Abu Dhabi on charges of corruption before the media. I seriously question their common sense. Let me explain why.
A senior official of the ACC brought the charges against the Abu Dhabi embassy in presence of the print and visual media in a spirit of achievement and sensationalism. The ACC official also told the media that this was just the beginning and one by one, the rest of our embassies abroad would be similarly examined and, if need be, publicly accused of wrongdoing.
A fundamental principle of law is that an individual is innocent till proven guilty. Further, cases as sensitive as the one in question are dealt in due process where those against whom charges are brought are given the right of defence. In the case of the Abu Dhabi embassy, the ACC has thrown such principles of law in the gutters and instead has acted as the prosecution, judge and the jury for by holding the press conference on this issue it has left no one in doubt that the embassy and the ambassador are guilty as charged!
It is just not that the ACC has thrown principles of law by the wayside. There is a more important issue here. The institution and the person against whom charges have been brought are an embassy and an ambassador representing the country abroad where integrity is of the essence. Is it not possible that after the due process the ACC may be proven wrong? What then? By that time, will the embassy and the ambassador have the recourse under the law to get their integrity back? And what about the country and its honour? As soon as the Abu Dhabi embassy in Dhaka picked up this sensational news about the embassy and the ambassador, courtesy the ACC, it must have surely sent an urgent dispatch to its government to be careful about doing business with our embassy because its own country has chosen to publicly accuse its ambassador and the mission of abuse of authority and corruption. It must surely be the first case of its kind that has happened anywhere where a country has acted in a manner as in this case. It is not that in other countries, ambassadors or embassies are not charged of wrongdoing or should not be charged. But in such cases, the countries concerned deal with these cases in a discreet manner so that the image of the country is protected and those committing the lapses are dealt with under the law. The ACC by its mindless act has chosen to humiliate the country and that too in a manner that is unbelievable.
Is the foreign ministry awake? As a concerned citizen, I expect the foreign adviser to show his authority. Left to the ACC, the country will soon make all our embassies and ambassadors abroad worthless and useless by scaring them out of their wits. The charges that have been brought against the Abu Dhabi Mission can and will possibly be brought against all our missions abroad, not only because such abuse and corruption may be happening but because our expatriates will now be encouraged by the ACC to bring such charges for reasons of their own that in many cases are bound to be based on lies and deceit. Unless the foreign ministry intervenes with the ACC’s madness and keeps such investigations discreet, our embassies and ambassadors will soon become victims of a kangaroo court. Most importantly, it will be the fair name of Bangladesh that will also become the victim of such a court.
Rashed Ahmed
Gulshan, Dhaka
