Yunus urged Hillary to mediate his dispute with Hasina govt
US State Dept releases Hillary Clinton�s emails
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
Nobel laureate and Grameen Bank founder Professor Muhammad Yunus asked former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to mediate in the dispute over Grameen Bank between him and the government led by Sheikh Hasina.
According to emails of Hillary Clinton during her tenure, recently released by the US State Department, Yunus, who was removed from the top position of Grameen Bank in March 2011, repeatedly asked Hillary to use her influence over the government to get things in his favour.
Yunus is a long-time friend of Hillary and her husband former US president Bill Clinton. In 2009, the Obama administration bestowed on Yunus the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour of the US.
The state department, in batches, released some 7,000 emails. Of them, over 300 were regarding Bangladesh and the issue relating the Grameen Bank. According to the released emails, Yunus used to reach Hillary through state department official Melanne Verveer.
In one of the emails, Verveer wrote to Hillary that Yunus (was) still very concerned about the future of Grameen. A mail was sent to Verveer on behalf of Yunus on Sep 9, 2009, about Hillarys meeting with the then foreign minister Dipu Moni and the visit of Sheikh Hasina to the US during an UN General Assembly meeting. The email reads:
Dear Melanne: Greetings from Bangladesh!!! Bangladesh. Foreign Minister Ms Dipu Moni will call on Secretary Clinton on September 16 to discuss the details of the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Ms Hasina Wazed to the USA during the UN General Assembly meeting.
Please see if the issues of Grameen Bank can be raised in a friendly way. I sought an appointment with the Prime Minister to brief her on our problems, at the advice of the US ambassador in Dhaka.
But it is now over six weeks, her office never responded. Almost every important person in Bangladesh congratulated me for receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Prime Minister and her party said not a word about it.
So you can see the depth of the problem. I thought I should keep you briefed and let you figure out what to be done.
Thanks for your help. Give my regards to H. See you in CGI and Hilton event soon. Best. Yunus. Another email from the Nobel laureate referred to the English-language Daily Stars Sep 17 report on Hasinas remarks about Grameen Bank.
It read:
Dear Melanne: I am drawing your attention to the following report in the leading daily newspaper in Bangladesh. All other papers carried the same news.
This is a report on the Prime Minister Hasinas speech on the floor of the parliament. High-lighted section of the report refers to me without naming name but giving her usual description of me.
See if you can find a way to clear her mind of all the terrifying thoughts she has about me. I invite you to be a peace-maker! Otherwise it will become explosive for nothing.
PM Hasina is coming to NY for General Assembly meeting, and will have a meeting with Sec H (Hillary) during her visit. See you soon. Yunus.
The Daily Star report was attached with the email.
Melanne Verveer then forwarded it to Hillary headlined, The ongoing saga involving Yunus and Hasina.
On Sep 20, the former secretary of state replied: Im seeing Yunus [tomorrow]. Were both speaking to the Hilton Foundation. He wants to meet with me there. I will learn more.
The next day, Verveer got back to Hillary with this email:
I talked to Yunus. She (Hasina) is making any [progress] very difficult. The health project he discussed with (you) cant get OKs from govt for nursing school, univ health center, corporate partnerships, etc.
He was hoping there might be some way to assure her (prime minister) that he has NO intention of getting into politics in any way and that she can use him effectively to make the country a model in ways that Grameen can do, said the mail.
