The anti-India fundamentalist party, the Jamat-e-Islami, a key partner of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), was all but wiped out.
Sheikh Hasina’s sweeping victory in the Bangladesh elections is good news for India. Even better is the fact that the anti-India fundamentalist party, the Jamat-e-Islami, a key partner of the Bangladesh National Party (BNP), was all but wiped out. The Jamat, which has close links with Pakistan’s religious right-wing, could win just two of the 300 parliamentary seats.
The Awami League has always been friends with India, considering that Hasina’s father, the late Mujibur Rehman, turned to Indira Gandhi for help when the rest of the world turned a blind eye and continued to support Pakistan. Sheikh Hasina’s excellent family ties with the Gandhis are also well recorded.
Expectations are high in South Block that an Awami League government will be more sensitive to India’s interests. Under BNP leader Khaleda Zia, coalition partner Jamat-e-Islam yielded greater influence. The Jamat has always been close to Pakistan and was opposed to the 1971 liberation war.
As a result, anti-India forces thrived in that country and Pakistan’s intelligence agency used Bangladesh territory to send extremists to India.
Indian investigators have charged Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJI), the terror outfit based in Bangladesh, of launching several strikes in the country. HuJI also has close ties with the Lashkar-e-Taiba and some sections within the ISI.
Despite the good relations with India, as prime minister, Sheikh Hasina was always looking over her shoulders at the BNP, which accused her of being an Indian stooge.
So while she was eager to allow India transit rights, crack down on terror camps of the north eastern insurgents in Bangladesh, and not allow Pakistan-based jihadi outfits to enter India from the porous eastern border, she was unable to carry forward her commitment to New Delhi.
“In the past, she was quick to promise but unable to deliver,” a senior official, who did not wish to be identified, said. “This time round, considering the international mood against terror, we hope she will not hesitate to act tough,” the official added.
The military-backed caretaker administration in Dhaka had cracked down heavily on terror outfits and even gone ahead with the death sentence of at least three wanted terror men. It will be up to Sheikh Hasina now to ensure that Bangladesh’s open borders with India are not used by terror outfits to enter India from the east.
The problem for New Delhi during Khaleda Zia’s rule was that India was flanked by hostile neighbours on both sides.
There is optimism in South Block that this time round, Sheikh Hasina will act against anti-India elements.
“India congratulates the people of Bangladesh on the fair, peaceful and free conduct of general elections which mark the return to multi-party democratic politics in a close and friendly neighbour. The historic victory of the Awami League and the Grand Alliance led by Sheikh Hasina is a major landmark in democratic politics in South Asia,” India said in a statement released on Tuesday.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}