When US supported Pak military bloodshed in Bangladesh

[flame_retardant]

dont go by what Indians say... see what GoI does.. our defence spending as percentage of GDP is among lowest... and have huge social expeditue.. (even at risk of screwing fiscal discipline) .. the new food security bill is another one on top of it...

GoI doesn't have its act together - India's demographics & current infrastructure make it possible for growth rate to be 8-10% right now. But it's lagging at 4-5%.

It's trying (& failing) to compete with China in foreign markets like Africa when it can't even hang onto a strong grasp on South Asian countries. India signed Free Trade Agreements with other countries in South Asia and didn't honor them properly - now China's in South Asia growing as a stronger partner for the rest of South Asia, which is fine for the rest of the South Asian countries but not good news for India.

Let's hope the Indian GoI gets smarter & more efficient.

 

[Azizam]

Instead of thinking about war, how about get together and develop the region together? South Asia is very famous for poverty in the world. We don't have time or resources to concentrate on military unless we have internal threats. I think we all should come from this war mentality and do our best to develop our countries.

We are nowhere in a situation where we can spend our limited resources on useless wars.

 

[the just]

who gave pakistan the mandate to do anything in Afghanistan... why cant pakistan learn to respect the sovereignty of afghanistan??

There's a saying in bangla - SHONGO DOSHE LOHA BHASHE.
Looks like Pakistan got its cue from India.Pocking its nose where it does not belong.

 

[MilSpec]

There's a saying in bangla - SHONGO DOSHE LOHA BHASHE.
Looks like Pakistan got its cue from India.Pocking its nose where it does not belong.

There is another bangla saying, Shogun er shrap-e Goru more naa!!

 

[notsuperstitious]

We hope that China or Pakistan or Bangladesh or some other country will make an organization like RAW in the future who's duty would be putting poison in the Indian's mind specially the seven sisters and start a civil war within and separate the main land India from seven sisters. This way their GHAMAND can be reduced.

Well East Pakistan in the 60s did try that, its very well documented that East Pakistan tried to foment rebellion in NE India and even played matchmaker to china and some separatists. You speaking of that as if its not been tried is the kind of profound ignorance that's at the end of so much apparent confidence.

Well so East Pakistan tried that and the rest as they say in Bangladesh, is history (that needs to be revised!)

 

[Capt.Popeye]

who gave pakistan the mandate to do anything in Afghanistan... why cant pakistan learn to respect the sovereignty of afghanistan??

Hey man; its just a continuation of the "Thekedaar Syndrome". Can't get cured of it so easily....

 

[flame_retardant]

We hope that China or Pakistan or Bangladesh or some other country will make an organization like RAW in the future who's duty would be putting poison in the Indian's mind specially the seven sisters and start a civil war within and separate the main land India from seven sisters. This way their GHAMAND can be reduced.

Really? You hope civil war breaks out in India? Because that's going to be wonderful for the rest of South Asia?

Like how much better things got for Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia & the Democratic republic of Congo after the Rwandan genocide? Or how much fun neighbors of Congo are having right now? Or should we talk about how good of a time Iran, Palestine, Syria, Egypt are having now that Iraq is demolished?

Corrupt politicians and beaurocratic inefficiency just isn't enough of a challenge. Those refugees from Myanmar are small fries. What Bangladesh really needs is a huge civil war to break out in India.

I should stop being surprised. You guys are obviously morons and you've got Indian morons to keep you company.

 

[Invincible INDIAN]

 

[UKBengali]

You were doing so well and then you came to this.

Really? Bangladesh, a country were 26% of the population is living on under $2/day, is in a (relatively) stable region, and is not under direct military threat needs to spend its very limited resources on building a military? Even if you say "Investing in military is the way to stimulate economy" there are better ways that attract more foreign direct investment & get more dividends - investing in infrastructure for starters.

Pakistan atleast has got a land dispute with India over Kashmir as an excuse to build a military. Not that Pakistan can't afford to spend money on military either - they need to pool as much resource as possible into their human development sector if they're going to get anywhere.

Even India shouldn't be focused on building a military presence - one third of the world's poorest people live in India. India's public school education is ranked 74th out of 75 countries that participated in PISA. Its infrastructure is crap.

I find it ridiculous when Indians want to compare India with China - China's got its act (mostly) together. Yes, China has income disparity, but the Chinese government is putting a lot of resources into bringing up the poor into the middle class right now.

Priorities.

Sorry, did not know you were the resident sage in the forum

Currently BD spends around 1.5% of GDP on defence. There is no reason why this could not be increased to 2.5% over the next 10 years and kept at that level.

A gradual phased increase to 2.5% of defence would not affect poverty reduction and overall economic development, especially now that BD is much less poor than 20-30 years ago

In case you do not care to look, currently BD is at the mercy of the Indian military and can be bombed by India at will without fearing much resistance.

Without military power, economic power cannot be sustained. Germany is protected by it's NATO partners and Japan has it's alliance with the US.

No need to try to match India but to have enough to make it think twice.

 

[flame_retardant]

Sorry, did not know you were the resident sage in the forum

Now you know

Currently BD spends around 1.5% of GDP on defence.

And you want to increase that 1.5% number by 1%. Instead of abstract, let's think of that as a real #:

Bangladesh GDP 2012: 116.61 billion. 1% of that is 1.16billion dollars - that's roughly about a third of the price of the Jamuna bridge. The Jamuna bridge would increase GDP by 1% yearly.

1.16Billion is also enough to make some improvement in the electricity supply and demand problem right now, improving infrastructure, attracting FDI. It's also enough to make a big dent in the metro rail project.

But you want to take that 1.16billion dollars & invest YEARLY into a military which we don't need when there are obvious needs.

Also keep in mind that Bangladesh spends 2.2% of GDP on education. So you're proposing to spend more on military than on education in a country with poor literacy rate. 1.8% is spent on social safety nets ( food for work, cash transfers and direct feeding programmes).

In case you do not care to look, currently BD is at the mercy of the Indian military and can be bombed by India at will without fearing much resistance.

Without military power, economic power cannot be sustained. Germany is protected by it's NATO partners and Japan has it's alliance with the US.

No need to try to match India but to have enough to make it think twice.

Really? India's going to start a war with Bangladesh? Kashmir isn't enough of a drag on India & so it decides "Hey, let's nuke Bangladesh!" Nevermind the havoc it'd cause on the Indian economy. Nevermind the effect it'd have with India's trading partners (USA, China etc). None of those things would come into play. India will just up & decide one day to bomb Bangladesh.

 

[Sliver]

Instead of thinking about war, how about get together and develop the region together? South Asia is very famous for poverty in the world. We don't have time or resources to concentrate on military unless we have internal threats. I think we all should come from this war mentality and do our best to develop our countries.

We are nowhere in a situation where we can spend our limited resources on useless wars.

One of the more sensible posts here. Why harp on old enmities? Why bring out more issues to develop more military spending? BD is in a relatively stable Geo-political position. There is no major dispute with India that cannot be solved with diplomacy. While India has China and Pak has Afg (that force them to spend billions on defense just to feel safe), BD does not need that much of spending. India is not exactly a "China" that is camping inside BD's territories.

 

[flame_retardant]

India is not exactly a "China" that is camping inside BD's territories.

China's investing a lot into Bangladesh's infrastructure so the camp is welcome at the moment.

 

[Bamboo Castle]

Really? You hope civil war breaks out in India? Because that's going to be wonderful for the rest of South Asia?

Like how much better things got for Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia & the Democratic republic of Congo after the Rwandan genocide? Or how much fun neighbors of Congo are having right now? Or should we talk about how good of a time Iran, Palestine, Syria, Egypt are having now that Iraq is demolished?

Corrupt politicians and beaurocratic inefficiency just isn't enough of a challenge. Those refugees from Myanmar are small fries. What Bangladesh really needs is a huge civil war to break out in India.

I should stop being surprised. You guys are obviously morons and you've got Indian morons to keep you company.

We are talking about strategies to keep your master India from challenging our sovereignty. India's RAW with its RAWami ally govt. is trying to start a civil war within Bangladesh. Which is not what we are going to let them do. And you moron just been dropped from womb sure sound like a RAWami agent.

Well East Pakistan in the 60s did try that, its very well documented that East Pakistan tried to foment rebellion in NE India and even played matchmaker to china and some separatists. You speaking of that as if its not been tried is the kind of profound ignorance that's at the end of so much apparent confidence.

Well so East Pakistan tried that and the rest as they say in Bangladesh, is history (that needs to be revised!)

And they did see some light of success. The seven sister region remains an Indian fear. Check the history yourself.

 

[Bamboo Castle]

Where did you get that... Probably 4 decades old...

 

[third eye]

Minus India [They are the targets]

It is surprising to see a Mod think this way.

One would expect a Mod to gloss over the past & suggest moving forward. For 60 + years making India the ' target' has been the cherished dream of most - what has changed ? What is expected to change & how ?

There is more to gain by accepting each other for good or bad and move on. This can happen only if we were to reconcile to our Geography .

Pak fear of water starvation and India's concern of Pak sponsored militancy both can be addressed if we were to accept each other. The distance to Lahore from Delhi & vice versa is less than Lahore to Karachi. We can help each other much much more .

Our animosity is what keeps the jobs & economy going in US, EU, China, Israel to name a few. All this just because of this endemic distrust.

' Targeting' each other must be done - not for aggression by for genuine bridge building.