EDITS | Thursday, January 7, 2010 | Email | Print | 
India welcomes Sheikh Hasina
G Parthasarathy
New Delhi will be welcoming Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as its first state guest of this decade. Overcoming formidable hurdles, Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League swept to a decisive electoral victory in December 2008, winning 230 seats and securing a two-thirds parliamentary majority. Ever since she was sworn in, Sheikh Hasina has not only faced challenges from Right-wing parties including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Begum Khaleda Zia, but also the Pakistani-Saudi assisted fundamentalists of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which unashamedly backed the occupying Pakistani Army during the 1971 freedom struggle. This grouping was reinforced by radical Islamic groups like the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and the Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami, which also enjoy Pakistani/Saudi backing. All these groups are united in undermining efforts to improve relations with India.
The greatest challenge that Sheikh Hasina overcame in her first year was the mutiny by the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles which erupted on February 25, 2008, at its headquarters in Pilkhana and soon spread across the country to 12 other locations. The mutineers killed their chief, Maj-Gen Shakil Ahmed, and his wife, apart from dozens of others. Sheikh Hasina acted deftly in getting a large number of the mutineers to surrender and then permitted the Army to crack down on the rest, using tanks and heavy weapons. While the mutineers had some genuine grievances, it soon became apparent that outsiders from the BNP and JeI were actively involved in fomenting the unrest.
India assisted the Bangladeshi effort by immediately sealing its border and forcing back mutineers attempting to cross over. Reflecting the anger of the Army in Bangladesh, the new Director-General of Bangladesh Rifles Maj-Gen Moinul Islam referred to the mutiny as a “most heinous crime”. He added that what transpired reminded him of “the liberation war of 1971”. Referring to Pakistan and its friends in the BNP and JeI, Maj-Gen Islam noted that “external enemies still exist” for Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina has, thereafter, acted decisively to force the surrender of ULFA leader Arabindo Rajkhowa, its deputy military commander Raju Barua and others operating from safe havens in Bangladesh. It has been made clear to north-eastern separatist groups that they can no longer consider Bangladesh a safe haven. She has also cracked down on the JMB and the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba and acted to pre-empt cross-border attacks on India and on the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Sheikh Hasina is facing domestic criticism, spearheaded by the BNP and the JeI, for allegedly having sold out to India. She has faced assassination attempts by pro-BNP/JeI Islamists during her years in the Opposition. She will have to show that relations with India are producing tangible benefits for Bangladesh and that long-pending differences are moving towards resolution.
Under the 1974 Indira-Mujib Agreement, India is required to return around 111 enclaves to Bangladesh and in return gets 51 enclaves. It took us 18 years to lease a small corridor of land near Tin Bigha to Bangladesh, which we were required to do under the 1974 agreement. Barely 6.5 km out of the 4,096 km land border remains un-demarcated. Measures need to be agreed upon so that the border is expeditiously demarcated.
Moreover, a political consensus needs to be built in West Bengal to resolve the remaining issues of “adverse possessions” and enclaves, which have bedevilled relations through the past four decades. If the Union Government could get the assistance of the then West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in the 1990s to resolve the vexed Farakka issue, there is no reason why a similar effort cannot be undertaken now to deal with the boundary issue.
There was substantial progress achieved in moving forward on a number of issues when Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni visited India in September 2008. The most crucial issue for India is ‘connectivity’, which would involve developing road, rail and river communications facilities in Bangladesh, for promoting access to our north-eastern States. India should invest in the development of the Chittagong and Mongia ports in Bangladesh and agree to provide access for goods from Nepal and Bhutan to these ports.
This could be coupled with approaches to Bhutan for a joint study of projects to augment river water flows. India would also be well-advised to provide assistance soon for the Akhaura-Agartala rail link and undertake action to meet Bangladesh’s immediate requirements by sale of 300 MW of power. Indian investment in the development of road, rail and port infrastructure in Bangladesh should be seen in that country to be mutually beneficial.
While Bangladesh has agreed to provide access to Ashuganj Port for the Palatana Power Project in Tripura, there should be concerted efforts to counter propaganda by the BNP against the construction of the Tipaimukh dam across Barak in Assam. Contrary to malicious propaganda by Begum Zia’s supporters, even experts in Bangladesh agree that this project will actually help in flood control, in augmenting lean season flows and assist in de-silting within Bangladesh. The BNP propaganda is motivated, considering that experts in Begum Zia’s Government, who were kept informed about the project in 2003 and 2005, raised no objections when the party was in power.
Another emotive issue in Bangladesh is the sharing of Teesta waters. Bangladesh has shown a measure of realism by agreeing to ‘Joint Hydrological Observations’ so that future actions are taken on the basis of realities and not unfounded fears. We should devise mechanisms to address mutual concerns on this issue, as we did in resolving the Farakka tangle.
Sections of the Bangladeshi Army and its intelligence apparatus have been traditionally anti-Indian and supportive of the BNP and JeI. There appears to have been some change in this mindset in the aftermath of the BDR mutiny. New Delhi would do well to strengthen military ties with Bangladesh and encourage greater participation by the Bangladeshi Army in international peace-keeping, which will encourage them to avoid Bonapartist ambitions.
Past experience shows that the political mood in Bangladesh can be volatile and one could well see a return to the BNP order if Sheikh Hasina falters and cannot fulfil growing aspirations. India should demonstrate that while it will assist in the progress and welfare of the people of Bangladesh, rulers in Bangladesh who show sensitivity for Indian concerns can and will receive Indian goodwill in return.
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