Delhi’s best bet in Dhaka

Delhi’s best bet in Dhaka

by Ashok K Mehta

India should make every effort to improve relations with Bangladesh while the Sheikh Hasina sun shines. The time to act is now

We are a country because of you” was the sentiment expressed by several freedom fighters at Dhaka on the eve of their Victory Day celebrations to war veterans from India who joined them on Vijay Diwas last month. This was only the second time Indian war heroes, as the Bangladeshis call them, were jointly commemorating the 40th anniversary of Victory Day even as plans for constructing an Indian Martyrs Memorial in Dhaka are being finalised. God sent is this opportunity to redress the omissions of the past.

One theme that apparently reverberated across the country was the call for wartime trials and the appointment of an international tribunal. The Government has identified 30 prominent people who collaborated with the Pakistani Army in the genocide of 1971. Between two million and three million people were killed and nearly one lakh women raped as part of the Pakistani crackdown following the popular revolt of March 1971. Not surprisingly, many youth in Pakistan are oblivious to their Army’s brutality that led to the division of the country. And Pakistanis talk glibly of human rights violations in Jammu & Kashmir.

On December 15, 2010 the BNP’s Standing Committee member Saluddin Qadir Chowdhury, former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Gholam Azam and chairman of a faction of Islamic Oikya Jote, a partner of Begum Khaleda Zia’s BNP-led four-party alliance Mufti Izharul Islam were arrested to mark Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League Government’s determination to start the trials. It is not clear whether the masterminds of the genocide in Pakistan will be brought to book.

Amid the euphoria of Vijay Diwas, political divisions were palpable, accentuated after Begum Zia’s ouster from Army House after 30 years in Dhaka Cantonment. While she supports the freedom fighters, she is congenitally opposed to the India-leaning Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Her mentors are China, Pakistan and, some say, even the US, and certainly the Army which is more at ease with the BNP than the ruling Awami League. During BNP rule, no Victory Day parade was held or India remembered. Last month she boycotted not just the parade but also the President’s reception but she did lay a wreath at the Martyrs’ Memorial after the President and Prime Minister had left the site.

She is also opposed to war crime trials and her party has announced protest campaigns starting this month. She registered her disapproval of Victory Day celebrations by visiting China where she was accorded the honour of a state visit. Sheikh Hasina was quick to state that Khaleda Zia wants to protect war criminals.

Although Sheikh Hasina enjoys an overwhelming parliamentary majority and the Opposition BNP and JeI are electorally dwarfed, it is certainly not the beginning of their end. Sheikh Hasina, in two years of her rule, has made no spectacular gains, so the field is wide open and nobody can be written off.

The military which has ruled directly and indirectly for more than half the time after independence has played a crucial role in shaping the country’s destiny. Last year, Sheikh Hasina weathered a Bangladesh Rifles revolt which witnessed barbarism replicating the 1971 genocide. The BDR, with 7,000 to 8,000 of its personnel under trial, has undergone sweeping reform and has been re-designated Bangladesh Border Guards.

The Army-led Victory Day parade demonstrated the professional élan of the three services and auxiliary forces. They provide the glue in keeping the country united and combating internal insecurities. For the first time the three Service Chiefs are of the post-1971 era, devoid of any linkage with Pakistan.

The grand success of intelligence agencies and the 2004 raised Rapid Action Battalion in drying out terrorism is commendable. Bangladesh has not seen a terror attack since 2005 and terrorist groups like HuJI and JMB are leaderless and lying low. There were fears that the present Government might disband the RAB simply because it was raised during Begum Khaleda Zia’s time.

The Sheikh Hasina Government’s impressive cooperation with India in the security sector is the high note in India-Bangladesh relations. Today there is not a single Indian insurgent group leader enjoying sanctuary in Bangladesh and the Government’s determination in counter-terrorism cooperation is vital to India’s internal security.

Defence cooperation is negligible except for some training exchanges. The first ever joint exercise of commando platoons was done this year at Jorhat and another is planned next year at company level. The first Army to Army dialogue was held last year and another is underway this month. But it is at a low level.

The proposal for similar interactions for Navy and Air Force were rejected by the Ministry of Defence where a babu reportedly wrote on the file: “These exchanges have not taken place in the past so why now?” As for defence equipment, India is nowhere on the scene with China firmly established. Military diplomacy is handicapped due to a mismatch between the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence.

Suspicion abounds about the Bangladesh Army — India is quietly portrayed as the ‘Enemy’. The Directorate-General Forces Intelligence is known to have links with the ISI and Pakistan is tunneling its way back not without help from local sympathisers.

Bangladesh has no real enemy except within. That is why it can afford to contribute liberally — and it does provide the largest number of 10,000 troops — to UN peace keeping operations which makes the Army a prized profession. China maintains very strong linkages providing bulk of the hardware.

The time for creative diplomacy is now to make hay while the Hasina sun shines. The opportunity must not be lost with high level visits of the Prime Minister and the President. India’s economic success story should create opportunities for Bangladesh. But most of all, what is lacking is people-to-people contact which is virtually zero. But does India have a plan for infusing confidence through trade, investment and other initiatives?

The war veterans can merely rekindle the spirit of cooperation of the past. Unfortunately the hard-fought gains of the 1971 victory were wasted not just against Pakistan, but also for failing to evolve a strategic partnership with the new-born Bangladesh — a strategic asset that has turned-into a political and security liability. In 2004, the Minister for External Affairs admitted that of all its neighbours, including Pakistan, India’s relations with Bangladesh were the worst. The opportunity for a reset has arrived. But let New Delhi not get stuck in the horrendously slow and chaotic Dhaka traffic.
source;the pioneer