BOOK NEWS
UPL emerges with Milam book
ON Thursday 11 February 2010, on a fading winter afternoon, Lauren Lovelace, director of the American Centre, orchestrated the book launch event of the University Press Limited Dhaka edition of Bangladesh and Pakistan: Flirting with Failure in South Asia, by William B Milam. Amid a select, small audience, the writer, who has served as US ambassador in both countries, made a categorical conclusion on the book: that it was 'one of negative outcome.' The subtitle of the book, flirting with failure, elaborates his deliberation. The UPL edition of the book was set in motion on 15 July 2009 when C Hurst & Co. proposed a reprint of an edition in Bangladesh. UPL immediately agreed to this offer. Hurst sent a copy of the book and publication work was soon underway. It was done through the good offices of a competent editor, who ensured a smooth publication of the UPL edition. On a related subject, Hurst's new publication is Military Orientalism Eastern War through Western Eyes by Patrick Porter. UPL plans to publish a series of books on events in South Asia in 1971. The Cruel Birth of Bangladesh; Memoirs of an American Diplomat by Archer Blood has already been published. William B Milam, a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC since his retirement from the US foreign service, takes a hard look at the political and religious realities of Bangladesh and Pakistan. He draws attention to the al-Qaeda linked jihadi network that threatens Pakistan, and the influence of Islam on the culture and society of both Bangladesh and Pakistan. The President and Director, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, has noted that 'understanding the dynamics and complexities of South Asia is more important now than ever before. Bill Milam provides the essential historical background of Pakistan and Bangladesh, with an insider's perspective and first-hand knowledge that only a seasoned and gifted diplomat can provide'. The review of the Hurst edition in International Affairs, Chatham House, London, in September 2009 notes… 'It was perhaps inevitable that the seemingly unstoppable rise of India as an economic powerhouse and its emergence as arguably the only functioning democracy in South Asia would draw attention to the many problems that still beset its more hapless neighbours. Wracked by debilitating ethnic and religious violence and struggling to keep their economies afloat, they appear to be in an unenviable position. Yet just why these states, which all once shared a common history with India, should have evolved so differently remains a matter of intense debate.' Moreover, "Milam's comparative history of Bangladesh and Pakistan… highlights the damaging legacy of two bloody partitions (1947 and 1971)…(and) leave readers with the impression that the fate of these countries is inextricably linked. This is most obvious in relation to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, three countries once joined at the hip and then brutally torn apart to emerge, battered and bruised, in their current incarnations. But the scars seem to have lingered longest in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where as Milam demonstrates, unsettled issues of identity have thwarted political stability and delayed the onset of what he calls a 'sustainable democratic culture'. These issues have centred overwhelmingly on the role of Islam. Although Milam recognizes that the interaction between religion, local cultures and the specific historical experience of each country has been different, both have been plagued by the lack of resolution about the public role of Islam that, in turn, has left a decisive mark on the pace and direction of their political change. Indeed, most readers are bound to remark how the conflict over religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh has produced broad similarities, predisposing them to favour military rule and thus frustrating their attempts to pursue meaningful political reforms. Nor is the irony of this shared trajectory lost on Milam, who observes that 'while religion could not hold them together when they were united, it is the only aspect of their separate existence in which they now appear to be converging in their shift from the secular values of their founders, and vulnerability to Islamism." Yet, even while he recognizes these similarities in their political and even economic profiles, Milam is keen to emphasize that as societies, Pakistan and Bangladesh are markedly different and set on divergent paths. This has yielded significant dividends for Bangladesh, 'where the comparatively enhanced position of women and the force of a strong and vibrant civil society have placed the country well ahead of Pakistan in terms of key human development indicators, notably education and health. Social differences have also been important in accounting for the vulnerability of each country to the threat posed by political Islam. Here too, Milam suggests, Bangladeshi society has been better able than Pakistan to resist the damaging effects of Islamism -- notwithstanding 'Faustian deals' made by virtually every government in both countries that have brought them ever closer to the extremist abyss.' More important, 'Milam's first hand account should serve to extend our understanding of a region that is fast emerging as a key global foreign policy concern.'
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