The Independent
March 2, 2013
M.
Serajul Islam
The
Shahabag Projonmo Chattar demanding the death sentence of Quader Mollah took
away a great deal of focus from the very important visit of the Indian Foreign
Minister Salman Khurshid to Dhaka from 15-17 February. The Minister’s visit was undertaken as part
of consultations under the Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission that
was created after the AL Government came to power and meets at each other’s
capital annually. Nevertheless, it came after a number of important visits from
India and ahead of the visit to Dhaka early next month of the Indian President.
Therefore, there were a lot of expectations concerning the visit particularly
because Bangladesh was badly let down by India with its failure to deliver the
Teesta deal and the ratification to make the land boundary agreement effective.
Salman
Khurshid met the Prime Minister at her office. At his meeting, he handed to her
a cheque for US$ 50 million as part of the US$ 200 million that the Government
of India had converted to grant out of the US$ 1 billion soft loan that it had
offered to Bangladesh in 2010 soon after the Awami League government assumed
office He co-chaired the JCC Meeting with his Bangladesh counterpart Dipu Moni.
. Following the conclusion of the JCC
Meeting, Bangladesh and India signed two MOUs; one on the Akhaura-Agartala rail
link and another on setting up a think tank named India-Bangladesh Foundation
and also inked an addendum to the Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation. The Indian Foreign Minister also
met the Leader of the Opposition Begum Khaleda Zia. The two Ministers also held
a joint press conference before the Indian Minister returned to New Delhi.
The
Indian Foreign Minister, while meeting the media, did not give the Bangladesh
Government the confidence it needed to believe in New Delhi that the issues
over which Bangladesh was given the jolt during the visit of the Indian Prime
Minister to Dhaka in September, 2011, namely the Teesta water sharing and
ratification of the land boundary agreement (LBA) were actually going to be
resolved soon. The Minister said that the Indian Cabinet had approved the draft
to be placed before Parliament for amendment of the Constitution to ratify the
LBA and that the matter would be considered in the current session of the
Indian Parliament. He also said that New Delhi has been carrying out
discussions with the stakeholders for signing the Teesta Agreement and
that the Indian Government was hopeful
that the Teesta Agreement would be signed soon. He did not mention the status
of New Delhi’s discussion with Paschim Bangla and its mercurial Chief Minister
on the issue. He also made no mention whether the BJP’s objection to the LBA
has been resolved.
The
Indians thus left Bangladesh more or less in the same position on the Teesta
and LBA where the two issues were stuck since they were aborted. On the border
killings that has been another major issue hampering bilateral relations, the
Indians have assured a zero tolerance. It has been acknowledged in Bangladesh
that as a result of Banagladesh Government’s stand on the border killings, the
Indians have been encouraged to lower the number of people being killed.
Nevertheless, the assurance of zero tolerance is still a promise and has not
yet been achieved although there has been a positive change in the Indian
stance. In 2010, when then Indian Foreign Secretary had visited Dhaka; she had
said that the Bangladeshis who were being killed should not have been in the
line of fire! Subsequently delegations from the BSF also failed to assure
Bangladesh no zero tolerance as the Indian Foreign Minister has done this time.
One
visible gesture from the Indians was the US$ 50 million cheque that the Indian
Foreign Minister carried for Bangladesh. This gesture brought back memories of
Bangladesh’s sense of pride in the years just after the country had earned its
independence by fighting a successful war of liberation. The Indians had
offered the Bangladesh Government a substantial amount of land in New Delhi’s
diplomatic enclave Chanakyapuri and had also proposed to build the Bangladesh
High Commission as a gift to the newly independent country. The Prime Minister
of Bangladesh Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman turned down the offers on the
issue of national pride. For many years thereafter, the Bangladesh High
Commission operated out of rented property till it built its own High
Commission. Interestingly, Bangladesh allowed the Indians to operate from
property abandoned by Pakistanis at rent collected by the government that was a
pittance!
Bangladesh
has come a long way since those days. It has now a robust economy where it no
longer has to depend on external aid for its economic development the way it
did in the years just after our independence. Today, Bangladesh can boast of
better indicators in the social sectors of growth than India. Therefore this
US$ 50 million grant that the Indian Foreign Minister brought for Bangladesh
should have been diplomatically declined the same way Bangabandhu had refused
the Indian offers on national pride. Great Britain recently announced that it
would discontinue aid to India which is US $ 480 annually and only 0.03 percent
of its GDP from 2015. New Delhi hailed it on national pride. The Indians should
have considered Bangladesh’s national pride before making the offer.
In
fact, if New Delhi is serious about long term friendship with Bangladesh, it should
allow Bangladesh to use the US1 billion soft loan offered in 2010 which so far
has been largely unutilized for construction of the Padma Bridge. Bangladesh
has already given India broad hint when the Finance Minister said in the media
that Bangladesh could use the US$ 200 million that India had already offered as
grant of the US$ 1 billion soft for the Padma Bridge. The Indians sidetracked
the hint when the Indian Foreign Secretary said during his recent official
visit to Dhaka that no discussion has taken place between the two sides on the
issue. With the Government in a limbo
over funding for the construction of the Padma Bridge and given its importance
to the Bangladesh economy, why can’t India offer the entire US$ 1 billion soft
loan for construction of the Padma Bridge? Our Prime Minister could put this request
directly to the Indian President when he arrives in Dhaka on 3rd
March for a two-day State Visit.
The
Indian Foreign Minister’s visit did not raise any significant optimism that
India would soon resolve the issues that have held up forward movement of
relations. Nevertheless, one cannot doubt that after putting the relations in
cold storage since the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Dhaka, New Delhi in
recent times has been making major efforts to make Bangladesh Government happy.
In fact, the Indians seem to be overdoing in that effort that raises doubts in
many minds whether the Indians are choosing sides in Bangladesh’s politics with
the elections in Bangladesh round the corner where the “India factor” would be an important election issue.
The
writer is a retired career Ambassador
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