As an Indian, and as one who has been boastfully appreciative of the progress made by Bangladesh in her democracy, economy, education, population control, culture, pride in one's nation, and uplift of rural poor, I can only assure and reiterate that we, most of us if not all, are almost envious of Bangladesh and hold your country in real respect. And as such if there are outstanding disputes and differences in opinion and perception, as there are many, I believe they can be easily and eminently addressed with diplomatic grace and no-holds barred educated communication and exchange of feelings and ideas. Any resort to indignities is of no avail to both of us. And I believe the above-referred article has in one shot armed the decision-makers in these democratic neighbours with thoughts and directions to motivate and guide themselves towards more harmony in dialogue.

As we both strive to attain more economic independence and uplift of our institutions any gap in dialogue between us will be costly for both. We need to learn more from each other--especially the poverty alleviation programmes pioneered in Bangladesh, such as the one by Dr. Mohammed Yunus of Grameen Bank which has dramatically altered the life course of the otherwise neglected poor and is an eye-opener to India's elite policy makers, submerged in their plush corporate sector mentality.

Former prime minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee, an eminent statesman-- who did not allow his diplomatic beliefs to be hijacked by the anti-Bangladesh hard-liners in his own party--launched this much needed change by travelling to Dhaka and the tumultuous response that he received there proved how eager Bangladesh was to reciprocate.

Let us not forget that the relished part of our history and waste the gains made in friendship by some intemperate and thoughtless outbursts provoked only by imaginary political slights. Zafar Sobhan could not have said more.