Punjab

‘We can’t help you till you give us visas’

Bangladeshi aid workers with experience of floods wanted to come to Pakistan but were unable to get visas.

Ali Usman August 25, 2010

LAHORE: Several Bangladeshi aid workers with experience of floods in their country wanted to come to Pakistan but were unable to get visas because of “bureaucratic hurdles”, a Bangladeshi rights activist told The Express Tribune.

“There shouldn’t be any visa requirement in South Asia. Our people are similar and we should learn from each other’s experiences,” said Fasial bin Majid, who is in Lahore to participate in a conference on South Asian women.

He said Bangladeshi youths were very interested in Pakistan. “Pakistani music bands including Strings and Atif Aslam are very popular and so are Pakistani cricketers,” he said.

Majid said his visit to Lahore had changed several misconceptions in his mind about Pakistan.

“Before coming to Lahore I thought people might call me a traitor seeing as I’m from Bangladesh. But whoever I’ve met and told that I am from Bangladesh has welcomed me and called me brother,” he said.

He said that he liked Lahore’s spicy food and its greenery. “It looks like a city in a garden because there are so many trees here,” he said.

He said holding regular elections had been Bangladesh’s “greatest achievement” in the last decade.

Majid, who works with Bangladesh Nari Progati Sangha (Bangladesh Women Progress), said his countrywomen had achieved considerable financial autonomy thanks to the microfinance schemes created by Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus.

“We still have a lot of people living below the poverty line but things are improving. In many cases lower middle class women are now in a position to give money to their husbands instead of taking money from them.

The women get loans through various NGOs, buy raw material through the NGO facilitator and do work at home like knitting.

In Bangladesh we have many outlets which only display products prepared by local women workers,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (7)

Khalid | 13 years ago | Reply 1. Bangladesh has one of the best disaster management setup's in the world. Its Army built 137 helicopter landing pads in 48 hours. Even the US Marine Corps and Navy praised the Bangladesh armed forces efforts. 2. In Bangladesh natural disasters, particularly floods were common. At an organisation level Bangladeshi NGOs are more experienced than most in the region. Today Bangladeshi NGOs are working in Afghanistan to provide aid to rebuilding Afghanistan, particularly through schools, micro-credit programs, roads and infrastructure like it has done in the past in war ravaged African nations like Sierra Leone. Its military engineers are equipped with state of the art rescue and construction equipment. It is the only armed forces in South Asia to have its own Riverine Engineers Battalions, which have logistic and engineering capabilities to build bridges, perform disaster management in short time. 3. The bureaucratic hurdles faced by Bangladesh aid workers are unimaginable. Even when we try to help you, you expose your negative feelings towards us. I don't think any sane Bangladeshi would like to go to Pakistan for seeking job. He would be better off in Iraq given the level of terror infestation and racism present in Pakistani society. 4. Pakistan is not receiving as much aid as it should compared to places like Haiti because of its association with terrorism so I think Pakistanis should remember the phrase beggars cannot be choosers. Just for your information Bangladesh government announced $2 million aid, sent a medical team and newspapers are advertising the plight of the people of Pakistan in an effort to raise more aid funds privately. All this is in contrary to what Pakistan did during the 1970 floods which killed millions of Bengali's while Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. During that time I specifically remember that the Pakistani government kept all the international aid money in its coffers and let its own citizens in the Eastern wing to die and suffer. I pray for the salvation of the people of Pakistan. I hope that this disaster changes your mindset and enriches you with humane qualities like the rest of the civilised world.

saher | 13 years ago | Reply dislike the comment of khizer if it isnt said in a sarcasric manner... bangladesh today stands far ahead of us because it learnt from mistakes.. but we are bent upon making more and more...