The Awami League has made available to the media the copies of document hiring lobbyists in United States for boosting the image of the government and has also brought the charges against the government that it has taken recourse to another corrupt practice through appointing the lobbyists.

The foreign minister M. Morshed Khan has defended the appointment of lobbyists in US saying it was done to protect the nation's interest by countering adverse campaigns to portrait Bangladesh as a Taliban and fundamentalist state: "Some of our political leaders have launched false campaign abroad against the country and the people and tried to brand Bangladesh a Taliban, Al-Qaeda and fundamentalist state ... being in the government, it is our responsibility to uphold the nation's image by foiling that vile propaganda," he said.

Earlier, the government decided to get some supplements published in 10 important dailies and weeklies of the US and UK, at the cost of our hard earned foreign exchange, in order to improve its image and publicise its "successes." The supplements were scheduled to be published from 1 October 1, on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the government. An "Image Salvaging Committee" comprising of selected journalists and intellectuals also prepared articles lauding the "successes" of the government. Finally the government abandoned the idea in the face public criticism.

The US government has already increased monitoring on issues related to intimidation and other forms of pressure on minorities, especially Hindus, in anticipation of the next general election in Bangladesh. A US State Department report entitled: "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US Record 2005-2006" said weak political and governmental institutions, pervasive corruption and general indifference by ruling parties to human rights continued to under mine basic civil liberties.

The report released on April 5, and submitted to Congress said extra-judicial killings, torture and other widespread abuses by law enforcement personnel such as the police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) went largely unpunished and the BNP exploited its position to gain unfair advantage over the opposition.

On religious freedom the report said, while the constitution guarantees freedom of religion, the government's record of protecting religious minorities was inconsistent, and police were often ineffective in assisting members of religious minorities who were victims of crime. About the members of Ahmadiyya sect the report said, the under secretary of State for Political Affairs and the assistant secretary of State for South Asian Affairs met with leaders of all religious minority groups to under score support for their rights and safety against persecution and violence. The government last year took concerted steps to protect the Ahmadiyyas, under US and other diplomatic pressure.

On corruption the report said. the US last year worked with other donors and the government to design a long-term, government-wide anti-corruption strategy, which led to a draft national integrity strategy. This draft was under review by several ministries and once adopted, will set the road map for the government's overall approach to combat corruption.

There is certainly no denying that Bangladesh suffers from poor image abroad and its image really needs a boost. The rise of Islamic militants in the country and eventual denial of the government of their existence, grenade attacks and grisly killing of some important political leaders, extra-judicial killings by RAB, and all pervasive corruption in the government functionaries, have severely damaged the country's image abroad. The sensational incidents of arms hauled in Chittagong and Bogra which still remains as mystery and the most recent unfortunate development at Kansat in Chapainawabganj district, killing at least 20 power-hungry people and other widespread abuses by the police, no doubt have tarnished country's image abroad. Of course this is not the way of governing a country.

The growing rhetoric between the two major political parties, resulted from the long-standing power struggle and war of attrition, has led the country to a perplexing socio-political situation. Neither the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia nor the leader of opposition Sheikh Hasina has been able to go beyond the narrow partisan territories they have shaped up for themselves. In this backdrop, The Economist in its forecast on Bangladesh said: "The battle of the two Begums in its third round since 1996 between the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, and the Awami League's Sheikh Hasian, will be fought against the background of a rise in Islamic extremism. But the political mainstream will remain firmly on secular ground."

Bangladesh runs at least 58 diplomatic missions abroad. The main task of these missions is to project the country's positive image and safeguard the country's trade interest in a complex global political and trade scenario. But over the past many years the country's diplomatic missions have not been playing the role the nation has expected of it. Country's image has not been adequately projected before the global community by our diplomats for lack of their initiative.

The parliamentary standing committee on foreign affairs has also expressed its discontent over the serious deterioration in professional standard of those who run our foreign missions. A very potent reason why our diplomatic missions have been under-performing, relates to the quality of the officials sent to man the various missions. Worst officers have also been posted to some of the most crucial mission to put premium on loyalties than merit and these officers have been failed to demonstrate the professionalism needs to project the image of the country abroad. What therefore needs to be done is thorough reform in our foreign ministry to bring about changes to such a system.

One must recognize the fact that the image of a country largely depends on how its government performs within the country. Image gets easily obliterated when its government continues to misgovern. A press release issued by the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy in Dhaka on April 6 said the US State Department report submitted to Congress contained weak political and governmental institutions, pervasive corruption and general indifference by ruling parties to human rights in Bangladesh.

It is pertinent to call into question, how far the hired lobbyists will be able to sway the opinion of the US government in favour of Bangladesh, unless the performance of the government is improved. Is it naive to think that the US government is not aware of the sensitive developments in Bangladesh and it can be motivated to form an idea contrary to the reports of its State Department. The best way to brighten the image of the country is to improve the performance of the government on the home ground. Hiring lobbyists for advocating such a cause will only spend a considerable amount of money from the public exchequer, nothing else.

ANM Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.