Editorial
Sheikh Hasina's peace model
Intentions must be followed by implementation
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's six-point proposal regarding a multi-dimensional peace model on which to build the edifice of democracy holds significance for the world as a whole. Of course, her proposals encompass a wider ambience, particularly in terms of the various efforts to put in place systems of transparency and accountability in countries which have for a long time suffered from an absence of democratic governance. The Bangladesh's leader's remarks, made at the on-going General Assembly session of the United Nations, places strong emphasis on the issues which currently serve as challenges for not just poorer states but also for those affluent nations whose future is inextricably linked with the wider development of the globe.
Sheikh Hasina's ideas about her peace model are, again, a process of thought shared by other leaders around the world. The concept is all-encompassing, as the six points make so abundantly clear. Eradication of poverty and hunger, reduction of inequality, mitigation of deprivation, an end to exclusion of people from the process of development, overall human progress and, very importantly, elimination of terrorism are the very issues which exercise minds across the spectrum all over the world today. In other words, it is a macrocosm which Bangladesh's prime minister presented at the UNGA. Observed in a deeper way, however, one could suggest that the issues the prime minister raises are those which, on a microcosmic level, affect the people of Bangladesh since these are problems which have long assailed our society and which now must be tackled purposefully. Sheikh Hasina's assertion that a removal of injustice rests on sincerity on the part of individual nations is a clear recognition that while global linkages are essential for collective progress, such linkages cannot truly be forged until states on their own and separately undertake the task of rolling back the ailments which have traditionally held them back.
These six points depend, in the end, on an easy availability of education for people in individual countries. Besides, a significant prerequisite for these goals to be implemented is a thorough, well-defined war on corruption. An expression of good intentions is fine as long as it is backed by the means of their implementation.
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