Bangladesh is Heading to Becoming the World�s New Leader Mohammad Asghar After creating our earth billions of years ago, Allah decided to create a special land for the habitation of some of His beloved people. To do so, He separated a chunk of land from the African continent and made it drift in the ocean for millions of years. This land eventually reached the Asian continent and collided with the land of what is now called infidel India. As planned by Allah, the collision created the Himalayan Range. At His command, the top of the range became the depository of ice and snow. He made them melt. The water that came out of them created some of the greatest rivers of the world. At Allah�s direction, these rivers carried a huge quantity of sediments and deposited them into the mouth of a bay. He made the bay, which is now known as the Bay of Bengal, to solidify the sediments into a land, thereby creating a special country, nobody appears to know when, for some of His best creations to live on it in peace and harmony. The land thus created by Allah is now known as Bangladesh. Giving the impression of being located between the two spread legs of a giant India, this country sits on a total landmass of approximately 144,000 Sq. Km. Of this, about 36,000 Sq. Km have been used up by over 204 small and large rivers, forests, hills and roads etc.; only about 108,000 Sq. Km of land of this great country of approximately 144 million people is available to them for habitation and cultivation. Despite being a small country for a population of 144 million people, the land of this country, gifted by Allah to them, has been supporting their lives without much difficulty. Until some years ago, it accepted only small quantities of food grains from such infidel-inhabited countries as are the United States of America, France and Australia etc., to meet the shortfall of grains its exceptionally fertile land had failed to produce but that was in by-gone days; Bangladesh, always remaining in Allah�s mind, does no more rely on any other country of the world to feed its ever-burgeoning population. Allah keeps on blessing this great country of the Bengalis because approximately 130,000,000 of them are true, pure and great Muslims. Though almost all of them do neither know Arabic nor understand what is written in their religious book called The Quran, yet they are more knowledgeable of all the percepts, rituals and doctrines of their faith than are the Arabs of Saudi Arabia in whose language, and following whose culture and traditions, Allah had given this Book to their beloved Prophet. Because of their unquestionable dedication to Islam, Allah had been showering His blessings on the land of Bengal from the time their ancestors accepted Islam. Some of His blessings are also known as �Famine.� The earliest famine in Bengal region is recorded in a stone inscription found at Mahasthangarh near Bogra in the third century BC. Another famine known as the Great Bengal Famine occurred in 1943. It was one of the worst famines to have ever struck this region. A series of crop failures beginning from 1938 and other disruptive events accompanying the Second World War precipitated this famine. Interruption of normal imports of food grains from Burma due to its fall to the Japanese, dislocation of trade, irregular movement of food grains due to the war in the East, and building up of provincial and district barriers (cordons) against the movement of grains and other essential supplies, increased demand for food to meet the want of the army were some important factors that caused the famine of 1943. The famine of 1943 was Great because Allah tasted His favorite people this time with great woes and travails. Thirty-one years later, He again tasted them in 1974 with another famine. Being resolute Muslims, they recovered from it many years later. After that visit of His with famine, He kept on visiting them with floods, cyclones and tidal waves etc., whenever He needed to taste them with destructions and sorrows. Last time He visited them with a severe flood was in August of 2004. He inundated almost the whole country of Bangladesh with his blessing. The fury of His blessing also destroyed His own House, which is also known as Mosque. But the Muslims of this great country never faltered from their faith in Him; on the contrary, they made it known to Him through all conceivable postures that no matter how harshly He tasted them, they would never give up the supplications He has prescribed for them through His Book of Mercy and Wisdom. The man in this picture represents almost all the Allah-loving and Religion-fearing (dhur�mu viru in Bengali) Muslims of Bangladesh.   This picture, taken on August 11, 2004 from Trimohani, a village on the fringe of Dhaka by a photographer of New Age, Dhaka, shows a man saying his prayer to Allah in presence of some swans. He had to say his prayer on the boat because Allah, in His rage, had destroyed not only his house but also the mosque while unleashing His blessing on his village. Since the Muslims of Bangladesh have never failed to thank Allah for all the blessings He bestowed on them from time to time, He found Himself obligated to show them the path of prosperity when the infidels of the world were going down the hill. In keeping with His concern for the wellbeing of the Muslims of Bangladesh, He helped them raise their per capita income from $ 87.00 in 1972-73 to about $ 400.00 in 2004. He also planted all kinds of natural resources under their country�s soil (see Bangladesh�s Finance Minister Saifur Rahman�s statement, as published under the heading of �Bangladesh no less a wonder than Taj� by The New Age of Dhaka in its issue of December 9, 2004). The intelligent and austerity-minded people of Bangladesh have been extracting only a small quantity of natural gas along with a friction of crude oil that has been lying under their land from time immemorial. In fact, this gifted land of Allah has been floating, like the State of Kuwait, on oil. And this good news came to them from none other than one of the former American Ambassadors to Dhaka. Despite knowing that their country holds all known minerals beneath its soil, its people have not touched the huge quantity, among others, of coal, gypsum, cement clinker, zinc and iron ore, gold and diamond as yet. They have been waiting for the right time to extract these resources so that they may be able to use them to their best advantage. We are of the opinion that the people of Bangladesh will start extracting their mineral resources only after other nations of the world have run out of their reserves. This would allow them not only to bargain for best prices for their minerals, it would also put them in a position of command and great respect. Once this position is achieved, there would remain not a single nation on earth that would be able to thwart Bangladesh�s bid at becoming a member of the United Nations� Security Council with a veto power. It was the above future plan of the people of Bangladesh that required Sheikh Hasina to assume the title of �Vishwa Netri� i.e. the Leader of the World. Sensing that the future leadership of the world was going to rest on her strong and capable shoulders, all other leaders of the world looked to her for advice and guidance, when she was heading the government of her country. One of her admirers was Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States. When he was having difficulties in negotiating a Peace Agreement between Israel and Palestine, he turned to Sk. Hasina for guidance. It was she who steered Clinton through the complex negotiations of Camp David. Without her, the world would have become a dangerous place a few years ago. The number of intellectuals among the people of Bangladesh is highest in the world. They can be found in all strata of the Bengali society. Most of them who belong to the teachers� community have been rendering sterling services to their nation by having themselves divided among the political parties of their country. They identify themselves by coded colors. One group that belongs to one political party calls itself �Blue.� Another that belongs to another party identifies itself as �Green.� Following the philosophies of their respective political parties has been paying them rich dividends. Those of them who align themselves with the ruling party are rewarded by lucrative and prestigious postings and other perks. Those of them who struggle with the party without power get themselves compensated when their party returns to the seat of governance. This has been happening for some time; it is going to continue, Allah-Willing, in future as well. There are other intellectuals who do not care much for political windfalls. They are contended with inspiring the nation with the fictitious roles they themselves played in their professional lives. Some of them are: Ms. Kabori-a famous movie actress of yesteryears; Ms. Shomi Kaiser-a small screen drama actress and Mr. Asaduzzaman Noor, a much acclaimed T.V drama actor, who now seats in the �Sangsad� (constituent National Assembly) to make laws for the nation. They are true intellectuals who have been inspiring the nation beyond anything we could ever imagine in our worthless lives. The people of Bangladesh are the true practitioners of democracy. The entire world ought to take a few lessons from their practices. Imbued with the true spirit of democracy, they believe that everything the nation has belongs to all of them. As owners of all things that exist on their land, they take the responsibility of not only preserving but also of destroying them when destruction suites their fancy. In spontaneous political actions, they can destroy your vehicle, if they find it in front of them at their agitated moments on the street. They can set public transports on fire and kill its occupants, if they think such an action of theirs is going to help them advance their political causes. They can destroy your property, if they believe you belong to a different school of thought and do not sympathize with their viewpoints. They can block the streets so that even the sick people, requiring medical help, cannot go to doctors or hospitals. They are also often found using the public thoroughfares for carrying out their mass communication with the public. Since the Bangladeshi public are much benefited by their leaders� sermons, they do not feel inconvenienced when they find some of their streets blocked by large podiums built on them for their leaders to deliver their sermons from. We believe this part of Bangladeshi democracy is becoming a fad among other world leaders who are reportedly contemplating to adopt this concept for themselves so that they, too, can make use of this unique and democratic idea in their respective countries. The people of Bangladesh have taken democracy to a level that other inhabitants of our earth could not have even imagined. Because in democracy you are not supposed to trust your opponents, they have come up with the great and unique concept of a �Care-Taker government.� Unlike other decadent and corrupt practices of other so-called democratic countries of the world, the people of Bangladesh do not believe that their government can ever hold fair and free and impartial elections. They have, therefore, come up with a law of their own that requires their government to hand over its power to the immediately-retired judge of their Supreme Court. After taking over the reigns of the government, the retired judge then conducts the country�s general elections. In this way, the people of Bangladesh have ensured the continuity of a unique kind of democracy that is likely to be emulated by many other nations of the world. It is going to prove to mankind that even though India is claimed to have introduced the world to the concept of �Zero,� Bangladesh has not lagged behind it; on the contrary, it gave mankind the gift of a pure and incorruptible democracy that is going to make human lives more meaningful and enjoyable not only for the present but also for all times to come. Most people of Bangladesh are also very kind and egalitarian minded. They were able to develop these qualities in them due to the teachings of Islam. It teaches its followers to be kind not only to other humans but also to animals. It also requires them to be egalitarian in all walks of their lives. Following their religious dictums, the Muslims of Bangladesh deal with each other with great kindness and love. They do not fight among themselves, nor do they kill each other. In fact, they abhor killing and all acts of violence. Despite their beliefs being deep-rooted in their religion, they do not hate or kill the people of other religions. This explains why a huge number of Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Jews prefer Bangladesh to other Islamic States of the world. This peaceful and sober human nature, which the Muslims of Bangladesh possess, has forced the State Department of the United States of America to admit that this country does not harbor any �terrorist outfits� (see News from Bangladesh of December 17, 2004 for full an full account). Neither had we seen any terrorist outfit in Afghanistan either, until American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania fell victim to terrorist attacks. Only after the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York did we realize that the leaders of the attackers were embedded in Afghanistan and that we needed to act against them to save ourselves and our future generations from their wrath. What happened later has become part of history. Such a situation is not like to develop ever in Bangladesh, as the majority of its Muslims are docile, moderate and highly civilized. At least, this is what we can infer from the clean bill of health the American Administration has given to them. Those of the miscreants the RAB of Bangladesh has been killing almost on a daily basis are not Bangladeshis; rather, they are those people who have infiltrated into Bangladesh from its neighboring states to malign the peace-loving people of Bangladesh with their nefarious activities. With their elimination, Bangladesh will one day become free of all foreign terrorists, thereby proving what the American State Department has said as being absolutely true. This great country of the ever-peaceful nation of Bengalis would remain a terrorist-free country until the last day of our world, Insha-Allah. The Muslims of Bangladesh strongly believe in egalitarianism. That is why only six percent of them own over forty percent of their nation�s wealth. They were able to achieve this great feat only because of their religious beliefs. Had they not been inspired by the principles of Islam, there was every possibility that instead of owning only forty percent of their nation�s wealth, they would have ended up gobbling the remaining sixty percent as well. The people of Bangladesh never compromised on the question of their independence and sovereignty. They are always prepared to fill up all the rivers and ponds of their country with their blood should anyone ever try to temper with these Allah-given gifts. The Country Director of the World Bank did once try to meddle with their internal matters. He was not only castigated by almost all the patriots of the country, the government of Bangladesh also took retaliatory actions against him. He was lucky that the Bank did not terminate his job. On the other hand, Bangladesh faced one of its worst political crisis during the early part of 1990. The Opposition was bent upon removing the government of the time from power. All attempts to have the differences reconciled failed. To help resolve Bangladesh�s internal disputes, many dignitaries from all over the world poured into Bangladesh and counseled both the government and the opposition on their disputes. They not only welcomed such �interferences� from foreigners, even the ordinary people of the country looked towards them for finding a solution to their nation�s problem. Of course, the foreigners had failed to take them out of their national quagmire. Fortunately, the world dignitaries� involvement in Bangladesh�s internal affairs was never viewed by the Bangladesh people as being an interference on their part; had they had considered their efforts as being an interference, in that event, the foreign visitors would have faced the same scary situation as the one that was faced by the Country Director of the World Bank! Considering all the human qualities the people of Bangladesh possess as well as the natural resources they have at their disposal, the world business leaders have begun paying their attention that this country deserved all along in its history. Infidel India�s conglomerate TATA was among the first to recognize Bangladesh�s unexplored potentials. This Indian giant offered to invest two billion Dollars in Bangladesh. Taiwan business community followed TATA and offered to invest three billion Dollars during the next three years. One of Australia�s major companies is all set to put in five billion Dollars in Bangladesh�s economy. The sophisticated investors of France were not to be left behind; they, too, showed their keen interest recently to invest huge sums of money in the once �empty basket� of the world. Lest the Japanese and English people are deprived of the windfall that is likely to occur in the very near future, their governments teamed up together to �develop financing that will focus on combating corruption and ensuring accountability of decision-makers of Bangladesh� (see New Age of Dhaka; December 14, 2004). Foreign governments combating corruption and ensuring accountability of the decision-makers of an independent and sovereign country of Bangladesh? Though this idea may appear as weird and undignified for many people, yet Bangladesh accepted this proposal keeping its future in mind. This is a real vision to which the Christians Bible has referred in verse 29:18 of its Chapter Proverbs. It says: Where there is no vision, the people perish�.� Inspired, perhaps, by the above saying of the Bible, the Muslim leaders of Bangladesh have opened up their country to the infidel investors of the world. With the influx of their money, its people are going to turn their country into earth�s most powerful nation. And when this happens, all the people of the world will live in a totally different world where peace and happiness, created by their economic prosperity, will become the guiding factor of our lives. We are waiting for that day to come. We hope Allah will fulfill His promise to the Muslims and make our earth a bed of roses so that all of them can enjoy their lives without stretching their hands for alms towards His enemies. Insha-Allah! December 17, 2004