From: rafatm@sage.cc.purdue.edu (unknown)
Subject: Re: Tribals/Palestinians and ethics (was Mi
Organization: Purdue University
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:26:06 GMT

In article <samaddar.724000027@dumbo>, samaddar@siemens.com (Sumitro Samaddar) writes:
> rafatm@sage.cc.purdue.edu (unknown) writes:
> 
> >Nepal and Bhutan ARE dependant on India. Take a look at their statistcs. An overwwhelming amount of their trade is dependant on India. Both countries receive
> >subsidized fuel from India, as well as other natural resources. If you do not
> 
> They may be dependent on India, but India doesn't exactly control them. Bhutan
> (not so much Nepal) supports Indian foreign policy, but India doesn't/can't
> interfere in their internal policies. Sometimes back, the king of Bhutan
> banned the reception of Indian TV programs because he felt that it was
> threatening the Bhutanese identity. India didn't even register a protest. (It
> was none of their business.)
> 
> One may argue that Bhutan is dependent on India, but do you think that it
> would be less dependent on Indian Central Govt. if it was part of India?
> 
Perhaps the Bhutanese govt. did ban Indian TV. I still fail to see how that is
relevant to the discusion. Remember, I stated that these countries are 
dependant on India; not colonies of India.          
> >But to get to the point, one should explain how an independant Chakma country
> >would function. What would be their major revenus? How would they develop existinng infrastructure (which I may add is virtually non-existant). There have been
> 
> If you believe that Chakmas survive because of aid (infrastructural or
> otherwise) from Bangladesh, then (a) why can't Bangladesh continue to
> provide them even after Chakmas have been granted a country, or (b) Chakmas
> can get aid from other countries. You have to realize that Chakmas don't 
> need much aid. Probably a fund-raiser in New Jersey can help them survive
> for a year !!
> 
> Sumitro

Judging from you remarks I am goin to take the liberty to assume that you are not from Bangladesh (correct me if I`m wrong). Bangladesh providing aid to anothercountry. My friend, let us get realistic. Currently, the Bangladesh govt. is 
upto its neck trying to sustain only 250,000 refugees from Bangladesh. As a 
result, we are suffering from huge financial losses. Do you really think it is
feasible for a country like Bangladesh to provide adequete financial aid to
another nation? I wish it was. As to your proposal of a fund raiser in NJ, I
think it is a very goo yet idealistic idea. How many Chakma`s live in NJ?
The Bangladeshi`s living there have only so much resources they can spare.
If asked to make a decision whether to give it to Bangladesh or 
Chakmastan, who would they choose?

    An independant Chakma country would need huge amount of aid. They would havetto establish necessary infrastructure for day to day business. Airports, roads,ttrain station etc... They would be dependant on handouts for survival. Currently Bangladesh receives a lot of aid. But one must remember that it is in the formoof loans. We will have to pay back the amount (we are in fact doing it know)
with interest. Thus, countries such as the U.S. and France will profit from
their "generousity". We are able to pay of the debts due to the fact that we
have at least some revenues from garments, textiles, manufacturing, and 
agriculture. When one of these industries is severely damaged, the country
suffers, but somehow other sectors enable us to survive. Imagine a scenario
where the agriculture sector of the Chakma`s were damaged. The country would
go under.

   All of these rhetoric actually fails to reinforce my main arguement.
In my opinion a majority of Chakma`s do not want independance. Let us hold
a plebiscite in the region asking if they want 1) independance 2) autonomy
3) maintenance of the staus quo. If they choose independance, (which is
extremely unlikely) I guess we will have no moral right to force them to be
a part of Bangladesh. 
regards 
Rafat Sadiq
   
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh