On Sunday September 20th 2009, the University of Virginia hosted a lecture by Nobel Peace Prize winner, a pioneer of micro-credit and the founder of the Grameen Bank (GB) Dr. Muhammad Yunus. This event was sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for International Affairs, University of Virginia. I was lucky enough to get invited by our University to attend to that emotional lecture and talk with him personally. Through my research and teaching works, I get to meet a lot of interesting people, but I have met few people who can match the Dr. Yunus charisma and dream that has changed the lives of some of the poorest people around the world.

Microfinance pioneer Dr. Yunus shared with all of us a central message that by working together, we can change the world. Beginning his emotional lecture he told us about the history beginning establishment his famous GB. It was 1976, when he visited the poorest households in the village of Jobra in Chittagong from where he originally came from. Dr. Yunus found out that very small loans could make a big difference to a poor person. He established GB in my native country Bangladesh, reaching out to people traditional banks don’t believe creditworthy.

Dr. Yunus received the Novel Prize in 2006 for his amazing work on micro credit. In addition to that he have own incredible number of most prestigious award from foreign countries all over the world for his exceptional achievements. In 2009 US President Barak Obama presented him with the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. More recently, he had honored a Chancellor position at the Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland. The whole world is now celebrating Dr. Yunus and his famous GB except his own country government. Very unfortunate that instead of highly appreciate him, the current government of Bangladesh started insulting him in a disgusting manner. In addition to that, from the various recent news it appears that the present government has declared war against him and trying to put him behind bars for his imaginary corruption charges. How silly and ridiculous it is. We all should be ashamed for these kinds of barbaric behaviors of the Bangladeshi government.

It is extremely difficult for us to understand that the present government itself is so corrupted that they are talking about the corruption of a novel man with a good heart. According to Transparency International recent report, Bangladesh is still extremely high on the world corruption list. Interestingly, a few years ago, the famous Economist Journal reported that “The problem is that the mafias in Bangladesh are the political parties”. For that reason he taken an initiative to clean up politics and maybe that’s why he became the powerful enemies among Bangladesh’s politician. As we all know, one time he expressed his intention to organize a new political party then quickly dropped the plan and it may be that is one of the reason why different politicians in Bangladesh started fighting against him. In addition, may be that the government started worrying that in the near future Dr. Yunus will again enter Bangladeshi politics. In addition to that, there are also reports that the government wants to take control over his GB. If this information is true, then it wills really a disaster for GB and for Dr. Yunus. The Bangladeshi government run institutions are mostly failures. In this case, we just can look at how Bangladeshi government failed to run the Banking sector, Bangladesh Biman and Railway.

The whole world watching with disbelief the government of Bangladesh action against novel prize winner Dr. Yunus. It is so disturbing that Bangladeshi living in aboard are feeling deeply ashamed and outraged. Has the government of Bangladesh gone irrational? Our question is the government of Bangladesh trying to eliminate Dr. Yunus’s GB? What could be the real reason behind this horrendous crime? Is it because the present government is unable to tolerate the fame Dr. Yunus have in his home country and around the world? Believe me, the whole world is watching what is unfolding around him. If the Bangladeshi government will try to undermined Dr. Yunus and put him behind bars, the world would know that it is an absoulate shame and of course that will have a devastating costs for Bangladesh government and overall for Bangladeshi people. We would like to make an appeal to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Her Excellency, Sheikh Hasina please not listen to bad advice from people around you. For the sake of the Bangladeshi Government and overall poor Bangladeshi people, it will be a tremendous mistake and will be counterproductive to go after Dr. Yunus and his GB.

If the government is trying to down Dr. Yunus in the eyes of Bangladeshis and the world it will backfire on the Government for sure. Because Dr. Yunus is not only a citizen of Bangladesh, he is indeed a citizen of the world. We are certain that for Dr. Yunus help, United State and European Union would be with his side. This is not because Dr. Yunus has friendly relationship with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Ex-US President Bill Clinton. Because, the West respects what Dr. Yunus contributed for the sake of the world’s poor people. Therefore, for the sake of the Bangladeshi and world poor people please stop going after Dr. Yunus and do not destroy his GB. We hope you will put priority on national interest, than your personal one.

The people of Bangladesh and the world want a respectful solution of the issue of MD post of GB which created scope for access to banking facilities to the poor people. We urged the government not to take any decision that would harass Dr. Yunus, the founder of GB. We all hope the government of Bangladesh will review its decision and allow him to run the GB for the sake of the poor. Otherwise, the conscious people of Bangladesh and around the world will be united to defend the man who helped millions of the world’s poorest people. That’s is why I and others who have met Dr. Yunus feel that we all have a duty to do all we can to save his dignity and GB. It is time for all of us to learn to respect to a son of the land who has earned high honors and reorganization around the world. Every one of us should be proud of Dr. Yunus for his exceptional achievements.
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The writer is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
E Mail : KZ2N@hscmail.mcc.virginia.edu