Bangladesh: A Country With Terrible Corruption

Pakistan and Bangladesh

The theme of these articles is a lack of dependable democratic stewardship, and leadership, which includes failure to respond to citizens' needs due to social chaos and civil unrest. Bangladesh is mired in political corruption; Pakistan is engaged in jihadist-related civil strife and has struggled historically with floods, hostility and distrust vis-a-vis India and Afghanistan -- in part due to the use of "relentless propaganda" (Khan, 2010).

In the Khan article Pakistani relations with the U.S. have been strained due to the U.S. support of India, and yet the U.S. needs a strategic relationship with Pakistan. Pilling's article shows that Pakistan has attempted to help the U.S. By disrupting the Taliban and the Green / Bokhari piece reflects that six million people were impacted by floods. Jones points out that the enclaves between India and Bangladesh are "inherently misrepresented/underrepresented" (Jones, 2013). And Mahmud writes that there is so much corruption in Bangladesh that the top leaders of one party (BNP) are "…either behind bars on corruption charges" or they are running away from law enforcement (Mahmud, 2008).

Question THREE:

Do I agree or disagree with the article by Plaban Mahmud? I wholeheartedly agree with this article because Bangladesh has had a tragic history of political corruption, or terrible typhoons that have drowned hundreds of thousands and caused cholera outbreaks following the storms. As regards the political corruption, in the 2008 article the government had no choice but to postpone the election and to give in to the corrupt BNP party, simply because if the government did not give in to the unreasonable demands "…strikes and violence would return to the streets of Bangladesh," and hence, the government would be "dysfunctional" (Mahmud). But if a government is forced to bow down to a corrupt political party, it seems that it is already dysfunctional. The BBC reported that Bangladesh is ranked "as the most corrupt country on earth" and that "corruption is widespread" (Rahman, 2014). Meanwhile when an eight-story garment factory building collapsed in Bangladesh on April 24, 2013 "scores of people were killed" and the terrible plight of factory workers was again shown to the world (Bari, 2013). There is in Bangladesh "…a deep-rooted political and economic corruption" of the ruling class that don't care of workers' safety is jeopardized.

Question FOUR: (Article by Green, Bokhari) There are instances in the world in which flooding can cause terrible consequences for developing nations. The Philippines is prone to flooding and like Pakistan, it has been harmed by political corruption. During monsoon season "…entire communities" can be swept away in the Philippines; when Typhoon Maring hit, 6,000 people were displaced (Childfund.org). There is also great poverty in Pakistan, and in the Philippines "more than one-quarter of the…34 million children live below the poverty line" (Childfund.org). In Pakistan, "58.7 million out of a total population of 180 million…" live in poverty (Ali, 2014). That is one out of every third person in Pakistan; also 30.9% of children under 5 years old suffer from "malnutrition" (Ali).