Suicidal Garlands: The $3.7 Billion Biman-Boeing Shackle

News:

Biman Bangladesh Airlines signed a deal with US aircraft manufacturing giant Boeing to purchase 14 aircraft, marking the largest fleet expansion in the national carrier’s history. Under the agreement, Biman will buy eight Boeing 787-10 Dreamliners, two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners and four Boeing 737-8 MAX jets, with an estimated list value of around $3.7 billion. (The Daily Star)

Comment:

Marketed as an "aviation milestone," the $3.7 billion Biman-Boeing contract is, in truth, a heavy link in a chain of servitude forged by the 2026 U.S.-Bangladesh Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART). This treaty mandates that Bangladesh "facilitate the purchase" of U.S. goods to satisfy Washington’s trade deficit obsession. The Boeing deal is merely the centerpiece of a $22 billion extraction plan- including mandatory offtakes of U.S. LNG ($15 billion) and agricultural products ($3.5 billion)- that effectively "sanctions" Bangladesh’s right to competitive procurement and national sovereignty.

The government portrays these jets as a cure-all for Biman’s service, yet Biman’s real problems lie elsewhere: maintenance failures, corruption, poor on-time performance, and abysmal ground handling. There are a really a lot of sectors to focus on—training, logistics, transparency. Spending $3.7 billion on planes while ignoring these fundamentals is a folly.

And above all: is this a national priority? Bangladesh faces reserve crises, inflation, underfunded healthcare, and climate vulnerability. Every taka here is stolen from hospitals, farms, and schools. If this were a genuine priority, the government would fix Biman’s core rot first. So, the question is unavoidable: Is this done to serve U.S. interests, not the people?

The ART achieves what sanctions cannot: total policy capture. It bypasses Bangladesh’s safety standards, threatens its pharmaceutical industry, blocks taxes on U.S. digital giants, and erects a de facto blockade on trade with China or Russia. Unlike visible sanctions, this treaty locks in a generation of debt—draining foreign reserves under "fair trade."

History shows Bangladesh’s rulers who accept these suicidal garlands lose sovereignty and popularity. They are Ruwaibidah leaders - incompetent and ignorant - betraying their people for foreign approval. True independence lies not in imperial agendas but in Islamic Aqidah, which gives leaders courage to reject exploitative contracts.

[...وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالأَغْلاَلَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ]

“...He relieves them of their burdens and the shackles which were upon them.” (Surah Al-A'raf, 7:157)