Bangladesh’s growth has been remarkable, but is now at risk
The government is moving away from the openness and moderation of the past 50 years
“WON’T YOU give some bread to get the starving fed? We’ve got to relieve Bangladesh,” sang George Harrison, a former Beatle, in 1971. His pleading was warranted. No sooner had local politicians declared the independence of the eastern half of Pakistan (as Bangladesh had previously been) on March 26th of that year than the Pakistani army initiated a brutal war to crush the separatists, at a cost of somewhere between 500,000 and 3m lives. The fighting, along with devastating floods and cyclones, had turned the new country into one of the most destitute spots on Earth.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Mid-life crisis”
From the March 27th 2021 edition
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