Friends once more

Warm ties between India and Bangladesh are emerging again after a long gap

Symbols often play as important a role as words in diplomacy. Bangladesh has chosen one that could help strengthen ties with India. Nearly four decades after independence, Dhaka has decided to honour members of the Indian army who played a key role in its Liberation Struggle of 1971.

Lieutenant General JFR Jacob, who was the chief of staff of the Indian army’s eastern command, with six of his former colleagues — all now retired — will be in Dhaka on March 26, Bangladesh’s National Day. They are to be honoured with medals for their part in helping Bangladesh emerge as an independent nation out of East Pakistan.

From the time of Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman, the founder-figure of Bangladesh, Dhaka has acknowledged the role played by India in its Liberation Struggle. The first ever attempt to invite army personnel to Dhaka to honour them has come from Bangladesh army chief, General Moeen U Ahmed. It is the Bangladesh army that now supports the caretaker government of Fakhruddin Ahmed in Dhaka.

General Ahmed’s move is both politically savvy and, some would say, morally correct. The support by India to Bangladesh during the Liberation Struggle has long faded from memory. Over 50 per cent of the population was born after independence; those who preceded it remember India more as the ‘big bully’ of the region than as the liberator.

In the past decades, both under army regimes as well as democratically elected governments in Bangladesh, Dhaka carefully erected an anti-Indian plank. It was seen by New Delhi as moving closer to China and, more importantly, to Pakistan. Many in the Indian establishment felt that this was due to strong pro-Pakistani elements in the Bangladesh army.

General Ahmed is trying to tell New Delhi that the new rulers of Dhaka are prepared to turn a new leaf in Bangladesh’s bilateral ties with India. The fact that those being honoured embarrassed the Pakistani army is also a clear indication that the defence establishment in Bangladesh is now looking for strong support from India.

Early last year, when the army-backed caretaker government was propped up in Dhaka by calling off the elections in the country, people within and outside Bangladesh supported the move. They were unhappy with the way corrupt politicians and bureaucrats were running the country. But more than a year later, much of the sheen has come off the ‘clean’ administration. The failure to check rising prices has been a major contributor to the falling stocks of the army-backed regime. There are growing demands for the resumption of the democratic process and early holding of the stalled elections. Many political parties are threatening to take to the streets to protest the rising prices of food and other items.

For the past several months General Ahmed and his close associates tried but failed to put together politicians who could run a national government. They also tried to get rid of the leaders of the two main political parties in the country, Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Both leaders are now in jail, but have shown no desire to retire from politics. A split in the BNP has taken place, but the leaders of the Awami League have stood behind Hasina. She now wants to go to the United States for medical treatment — many in the current regime in Dhaka see this as an opportunity to make it possible for the second rung of leaders in the League to take charge. But they will not do so unless they are assured of support from the right quarters, particularly India.

Some weeks ago, when the Bangladesh army chief visited New Delhi, he held detailed discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee about the evolving situation in Bangladesh. He also had several rounds of talks with defence minister AK Anthony and other senior officials in the Indian defence establishment about how relations between the two armies could evolve.

The caretaker government in Dhaka has already taken action against politicians and Islamic fundamentalist groups working against India’s interests. But if a democratically-elected government comes to power in Bangladesh, it could well start punishing many of the army officials who have taken the initiative of putting these politicians and their
supporters in jail. General Ahmed wants an assurance that no such witch hunt will be carried out if elections are held in Bangladesh. And he needs India’s support to get such a deal in place.

The writer is a commentator on political affairs