DHAKA, Aug 12: An unholy alliance led by international lending agencies poses a threat to Bangladesh’s security. A group of left-leaning intellectuals sounded the warning at a conference on Friday.

The speakers identified the country’s energy reserves as a danger to its security, citing the tragedies of Afghanistan and Iraq.

They accused Bangladesh’s politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen of carrying out the World Bank-IMF ‘agenda’ by advocating foreign private investment in the energy sector.

The Centre for Studies in Social Transformation organized the conference on ‘Energy security of Bangladesh’.

“When the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank hear about a loss of 500 million takas in the public sector, they become ‘worried’. But they said nothing about the loss in the thousands of millions in Magurachhara and Tengratila gas field blowouts due to the negligence of foreign oil companies,” said economist Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University.

He said the lending agencies feign concern over corruption and weak governance in Bangladesh. But the agencies’ very survival depends on corruption and weak governance, Mr Anu said.

He said a global alliance comprising the lending agencies, United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada and Bangladesh’s ‘corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen’ was a major threat to the country’s energy security.

Mr Anu said the World Bank applied relentless pressure on Dhaka to seek foreign private investment in the energy sector. “In a report in 1982 the Bank said Bangladesh needs foreign investment and needs to export gas for its ‘golden’ future.”

He said the agency also advocated downsizing the Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company because it was ‘unnecessary’.

Mr Anu said the Asian Development Bank joined the chorus in the early nineties, and the Bangladesh government at last gave in, allowing foreign companies to enter the gas sector.

He alleged the decision weakened the relevant state-owned corporations, leaving the energy sector at the mercy of foreign agencies. According to him, this development was ominous.

Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, who chaired the conference, said he viewed the ‘activities’ of foreign companies, especially India’s Tata Group, with suspicion.

He said the government was propagating that foreign investment would bring about a ‘revolutionary change’. “We do not know what goes on behind the curtain. But we know about the East India Company and how they arrived in the Sub-continent in the name of business and took away our wealth,” the professor observed. “Even after 250 years, the imperialists are active.”

Prof Seraj said that in the energy sector the main problem is political. “If the political leadership cannot make a strong policy, the sector cannot be saved. Such energy resources have proved dangerous for Afghanistan and Iraq.”

He alleged that politicians were not patriotic and urged the people to resist the takeover of Bangladesh’s ‘resources by foreigners’.