(From New Straits Times (Malaysia))
BANGLADESH is a unitary and sovereign republic officially known as the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It emerged as an independent nation on Dec 16, 1971 after nine months of war that started following the declaration of independence on March 26.
Its alluvial plains provide fertile agricultural lands. The land mass is largely a deltaic formation of three rivers: the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna.
Traditionally a land of communal harmony, the history of Bangladesh is a journey across the millennium and a journey across Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam.
The Government is unitary in structure and parliamentary in form. The President is elected by the Parliament and acts as the titular head of the republic while the executive power of the government is vested with the Prime Minister, who exercises this authority in consultation with the Cabinet and must have the support and command of the majority members of the Parliament.
The present four-party alliance Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was elected in a landslide victory in the general elections of Oct …