Evolving friendlier relationship
8 Nov 2012 9:11 PM GMT
Controversy broke out even before Khaleda Zia, head of Bangladeshi major opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), could return home from her India visit. At the centre of the storm were the changing perceptions in Dhaka about Indo-Bangla relations.
Former Prime Minister Zia, the first opposition leader to be invited to India, has confirmed during her official talks in Delhi that her party will not allow Bangladeshi territory to be used by anti-Indian insurgent organisations for their political ends. On their part, Indian officials have also emphasised that both countries should look forward, not backwards, as they try to evolve a friendlier relationship in the future.
However, senior Awami League leaders have not been impressed by what appears to be a change of heart on part of Zia, always known to be bitterly anti-India in the past. An Awami League leader said that the BNP’s insistence on not looking back on past developments was indication enough of Indo-Bangla tensions that had marked its rule in Bangladesh.
Senior League leader Nasim Khan was more explicit. Zia, he claimed, would not lose anytime to change her stance and revert to her anti-India policies if she were re-elected to power. The sole appeal of the BNP brand of politics was anti-India and this satisfied the bulk of its vote bank. The BNP had always branded the League as an ‘agent of India’, for its insistence on good neighbourly relations with India, he observed at a meeting, according to Dhaka-based media.
On the other hand, senior BNP leaders, like former Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, sang a markedly different tune. Khan, not known for any marked softness towards India earlier, now admitted that the BNP’s anti-India policies were ‘a mistake’. He blamed the two allies of the BNP, the Jamat-e-Islami and the Islaim Oikya Jote, which always insisted on pursuing a relentlessly anti-India line in neighbourly relations.
In a moment of rare candour, Khan admitted that before 2006, there were several occasions when senior BNP leaders including himself, had often advised then Prime Minister Zia not to antagonise India too much, implying that such efforts did not achieve much. Some of these leaders later found it difficult to work within the BNP.
Dhaka-based observers noted that the emergence of India in recent years as a major, powerful regional presence had also induced a certain change of heart within political circles in Bangladesh. Overriding earlier reservations among a section of people about Indo-Bangladesh co-operation and relations, bilateral relations had grown warmer and trade and economic ties became stronger in recent years, despite differences in some areas.
Kolkata-based analysts point out that in recent times, the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism had waned universally, including in Bangladesh. The League government, headed by Sheikh Hasina, had banned, arrested or punished Islamic extremists in a series of courageous moves.
The killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh and former prime minister, had been punished, pro-Jihad elements had been rounded up and their organisations banned. Anti-India insurgents had been driven out or forced to go underground, their bank accounts seized and activities suspended. Leaders of the banned ULFA and other organisations had been arrested, driven out or handed over to India.
During its spell in power, the BNP had not taken any such initiatives and instead encouraged anti-India insurgents, allowing them to operate freely and import arms.
Even more than India’s opprobrium, the relentless pressure on the BNP and its allies by the US and the EU countries in their war against Islamic fundamentalism also seems to have worked as a major factor in bringing about a change of perceptions, if not hearts, among political circles of Bangladesh.
Zia is scheduled to return to Dhaka, following a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee. BNP circles, satisfied with the importance given by India to Zia, also recalled Mukherjee’s earlier assurance, to the effect that India sought to build relations with all parties in Bangladesh, not only one. Before Zia, the former Bangladeshi ruler Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who now heads a political party, had also been invited.
Analysts think such visits are politically significant, with Bangladesh national elections only about a year away. [IPA]
Former Prime Minister Zia, the first opposition leader to be invited to India, has confirmed during her official talks in Delhi that her party will not allow Bangladeshi territory to be used by anti-Indian insurgent organisations for their political ends. On their part, Indian officials have also emphasised that both countries should look forward, not backwards, as they try to evolve a friendlier relationship in the future.
However, senior Awami League leaders have not been impressed by what appears to be a change of heart on part of Zia, always known to be bitterly anti-India in the past. An Awami League leader said that the BNP’s insistence on not looking back on past developments was indication enough of Indo-Bangla tensions that had marked its rule in Bangladesh.
Senior League leader Nasim Khan was more explicit. Zia, he claimed, would not lose anytime to change her stance and revert to her anti-India policies if she were re-elected to power. The sole appeal of the BNP brand of politics was anti-India and this satisfied the bulk of its vote bank. The BNP had always branded the League as an ‘agent of India’, for its insistence on good neighbourly relations with India, he observed at a meeting, according to Dhaka-based media.
On the other hand, senior BNP leaders, like former Foreign Minister Morshed Khan, sang a markedly different tune. Khan, not known for any marked softness towards India earlier, now admitted that the BNP’s anti-India policies were ‘a mistake’. He blamed the two allies of the BNP, the Jamat-e-Islami and the Islaim Oikya Jote, which always insisted on pursuing a relentlessly anti-India line in neighbourly relations.
In a moment of rare candour, Khan admitted that before 2006, there were several occasions when senior BNP leaders including himself, had often advised then Prime Minister Zia not to antagonise India too much, implying that such efforts did not achieve much. Some of these leaders later found it difficult to work within the BNP.
Dhaka-based observers noted that the emergence of India in recent years as a major, powerful regional presence had also induced a certain change of heart within political circles in Bangladesh. Overriding earlier reservations among a section of people about Indo-Bangladesh co-operation and relations, bilateral relations had grown warmer and trade and economic ties became stronger in recent years, despite differences in some areas.
Kolkata-based analysts point out that in recent times, the appeal of Islamic fundamentalism had waned universally, including in Bangladesh. The League government, headed by Sheikh Hasina, had banned, arrested or punished Islamic extremists in a series of courageous moves.
The killers of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, founding father of Bangladesh and former prime minister, had been punished, pro-Jihad elements had been rounded up and their organisations banned. Anti-India insurgents had been driven out or forced to go underground, their bank accounts seized and activities suspended. Leaders of the banned ULFA and other organisations had been arrested, driven out or handed over to India.
During its spell in power, the BNP had not taken any such initiatives and instead encouraged anti-India insurgents, allowing them to operate freely and import arms.
Even more than India’s opprobrium, the relentless pressure on the BNP and its allies by the US and the EU countries in their war against Islamic fundamentalism also seems to have worked as a major factor in bringing about a change of perceptions, if not hearts, among political circles of Bangladesh.
Zia is scheduled to return to Dhaka, following a meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee. BNP circles, satisfied with the importance given by India to Zia, also recalled Mukherjee’s earlier assurance, to the effect that India sought to build relations with all parties in Bangladesh, not only one. Before Zia, the former Bangladeshi ruler Hussain Mohammed Ershad, who now heads a political party, had also been invited.
Analysts think such visits are politically significant, with Bangladesh national elections only about a year away. [IPA]
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