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Updated March 24th, 2021 at 12:07 IST

Bangladesh marks 50 years of independence

On the eve of marking 50 years of independence, Bangladesh has been hailed as a success story for a young nation born out of strife and turbulence.

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On the eve of marking 50 years of independence, Bangladesh has been hailed as a success story for a young nation born out of strife and turbulence.

While it has struggled with famine, poverty and political violence, Bangladesh has also been celebrated for its progress in uplifting the lives of its young population.

Millions have risen out of poverty as the country has become one of Asia's fastest growing economies thanks to sectors like its garments industry that clothes millions around the world.

Shafiqul Islam was studying business at Dhaka College in 1971 when a bloody and brutal war ravaged Bangladesh.

After undergoing guerrilla training in India, he returned to fight against Pakistani soldiers.

Nine months after it began, the war culminated into the country's independence.

Fifty years on, 67-year-old Islam presides over Arrival Fashion Ltd., a new-generation garment factory spread over 2.5 acres and surrounded by lush paddy fields on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.

The factory employs nearly 3,000 workers who make jeans for export to Europe and North America.

Islam's story in many ways mirrors the rise of Bangladesh, home to 160 million people.

"This is the hard work of the people of the nation and the leadership of the country," Islam said.

In 1947 when the Indian subcontinent gained independence from British colonial rule, the land was carved into separate states, with the Muslim-majority regions becoming East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, and West Pakistan, now simply Pakistan.

But from the beginning, a strong nationalist movement surged as language became a point of tension; Bengali was widely spoken in the East, while the West's Urdu-speaking elite rose to power.

A watershed moment occurred in 1970 amid strikes and rising hostilities, when East Pakistan's Awami League, led by Bengali politician Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, swept the polls in a national election.

The government rejected the results, spawning a civil disobedience movement.

On March 26, 1971, Bangladesh declared independence, sparking the nine-month war.

Pakistan launched a military operation to stop the move to independence, while India joined on the side of what is now Bangladesh.

Pakistani forces surrendered on December 16, 1971.

Bangladesh says 3 million Bengalis were killed. Millions also fled to India, and historians have said hundreds of thousands of Bengali women were raped.

Another casualty of the war was the economy — GDP was only $6.2 billion in 1972.

This figure has catapulted since, reaching $305 billion in 2019. Some forecasts expect it to double its size by 2030.

Central to some of the country's success is its apparel industry, second-largest globally after China, which rakes in more than $35 billion a year from exports.

It employs 4 million people and the triumph has been felt most by women, who form the majority of factory workers.

A job at Islam's factory helps Nasima Akhter and her two siblings earn about $411 a month, which supports her and her family.

When she was a teenager, her parents struggled to provide them with three meals a day. Now 28, Akhter works eight hours a day, sewing hundreds of jeans.

"I am living well. I can give some help to my parents and relatives with money. They all are living well," she said.

Per capita income has nearly tripled under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who first came to power in 1996 and was then reelected in 2008.

Experts say the country over the years has invested heavily in the lives of women and girls. Currently, 98% of children have finished primary school, with more girls in secondary than boys.

Life expectancy in Bangladesh is 72 years against Pakistan's 67 years, and it has also surpassed wealthier India on combating child malnutrition and reproductive health, according to World Bank data.

But Bangladesh is also severely vulnerable to the growing effects of climate change, with a third of its population at risk of displacement from rising sea levels.

More immediately, the coronavirus pandemic poses challenges in Bangladesh.

COVID-19 cases prompted a nationwide lockdown, forcing major industries and small businesses to a grinding halt. The country has reported over 560,000 confirmed cases and around 8,600 deaths so far. Although experts say the full toll may be underreported, Bangladesh remains less affected than many other countries.

Still, the garment sector has shown signs of recovery and other economic drivers — remittances, agriculture and the service sector — are doing well too, experts say.

But not everyone is part of the country's roaring growth.

"Two things very difficult to go together - people's engagement on economic activities in a proper way and to reduce the disparity," said prominent economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad. "It is a difficult process now," he added.

Some fear the country's success conceals a darker turn, including concerns over its most recent election in 2018 when Hasina won a fourth term after cinching 266 out of 300 seats in Parliament. It was a tainted election, as rights groups condemned violence against opponents who alleged manipulated and rigged voting.

The U.S.-based Freedom House said the party had "consolidated political power through sustained harassment of the opposition and those perceived to be allied with it," in its 2020 annual report on democracy.

Experts also highlight a controversial digital security law, which they say can be misused to mute free speech. Earlier this month, protesters swarmed an intersection in Dhaka over the death in prison of a commentator who was charged under the law for critical statements about the government's handling of the pandemic.

Islam, the managing director of Arrival Fashion Ltd. who fought in the war, says he's done his part but the country has a lot more to achieve.

"We have to ensure that future is also smooth for the next generation after generation. We must practice democracy, which is very much on progress, that we need to achieve more and more on that sector," he said.

Meanwhile, Hasina has set ambitious targets — including elevating the country to a higher middle-income one by 2031 and a developed one by 2041.

In February, the United Nations' Committee for Development Policy recommended that Bangladesh be promoted to a developing country from least developed.

(Image Credit: AP)

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Published March 24th, 2021 at 12:07 IST

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