{"id":119702,"date":"2021-10-28T17:02:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T00:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=119702"},"modified":"2021-10-28T17:02:12","modified_gmt":"2021-10-29T00:02:12","slug":"bangladesh-pm-sheikh-hasinas-meeting-with-pakistani-envoy-has-a-message-for-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/10\/28\/bangladesh-pm-sheikh-hasinas-meeting-with-pakistani-envoy-has-a-message-for-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina’s meeting with Pakistani envoy has a message for India"},"content":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh\nImran Ahmed Siddiqui\u2019s recent meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh\nHasina was comprehensively covered in the media. It only shows the strategic\nsignificance of the meeting. The meeting has messages for the region, including\nsome ominous signs for India, as it has the potential to change the entire\nregional geopolitical game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bangladesh is indeed a trusted friend of\nIndia in the South Asian region. Bangladesh-India relations can be described as\n“all-weather friendship”, just like the ties between Pakistan and\nChina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a report in the leading\nPakistani media outlet Dawn, Sheikh Hasina invited Pakistan Prime Minister\nImran Khan to visit Bangladesh. Pakistani media outlets reported that Sheikh\nHasina also expressed her interest in visiting Pakistan. This could be a\nsignificant development in terms of regional geopolitics, provided the news is\ncorrect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent incidents in Bangladesh surrounding\nthe Hindu festival of Durga Puja have indeed created some distance between New\nDelhi and Dhaka. This followed issues like India\u2019s National Register of\nCitizens and the Citizenship Amendment Act, which had already caused tension\nbetween Bangladesh and India. Delay in the resolution of long-pending issues\nlike the signing of the Teesta water-sharing deal despite Dhaka\u2019s persistent\ndemands, killing of civilians across the Bangladesh border, as also the onion\ncrisis have sowed some distrust between the two longtime friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheikh Hasina\u2019s counter to India\u2019s angry\ndiplomatic note on the recent killings of Bangladesh’s Hindus and vandalisation\nof their property and socio-cultural symbol has not been particularly palatable\nto New Delhi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a fact that Bangladesh is going to\nemerge as a self-sufficient economic power in the region. As such, India needs\nto behave in a more friendly manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overtures from Islamabad<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his meeting with Sheikh Hasina at\nthe Prime Minister’s official residence Ganobhaban, the newly appointed\nPakistan High Commissioner handed over to her a message from Imran Khan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the meeting, the Bangladesh premier\u2019s\nPress Secretary Ihsanul Karim, in his briefing to reporters, said Sheikh Hasina\ntold the envoy that South Asian countries should be freed from the curse of\nhunger and illiteracy and needed to work for the welfare of the people of the\nregion. The Prime Minister further said that the foreign policy of Bangladesh\nformulated by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is\nfriendship with all, not enmity with anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the meeting, High Commissioner Imran\nAhmed Siddiqui said Pakistan is interested in developing its relations with\nBangladesh. He also gifted a photo album, painting, and video footage of Sheikh\nMujibur Rahman’s visit to Pakistan as the Prime Minister of Bangladesh to attend\nthe 1974 OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation) Summit. Hasina thanked the\nHigh Commissioner for handing over the historical memorabilia. She also\ncommended the publication of a calligraphy book in Bengali by Pakistan on the\noccasion of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador at Large Mohammad Ziauddin and\nthe Prime Minister\u2019s Principal Secretary Ahmed Kaikaus were present during the\ninteraction. While the detailed deliberations of the meeting were not made\npublic, multiple issues are likely to have cropped up at the discussion table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alarm bells for India?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This should ring the alarm bell for India.\nChina and Pakistan are always scouring for opportunities by utilizing any kind\nof strain in Bangladesh-India ties, and would obviously try to exploit the\npresent regional political scenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this context, one assumes that India\nwould strive to keep its warm relations with Bangladesh at its level best.\nIndia should keep its promises made earlier to Bangladesh. India shouldn\u2019t\npoint an accusing finger at Bangladesh for the recent incidents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indian politicians should do well to stay\naway from making remarks or come up with statements that may disturb the\nBangladesh-India friendly ties. Such comments can only create a gulf between\nBangladesh and India, which is undesirable. It is well established that the\nBangladesh government is going all out to take concrete actions against\nculprits who were involved in recent communal violence in Bangladesh. India and\nthe world know that Bangladesh is a secular country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM Hasina is a person of liberal views with\na secular outlook. India should stop spreading baseless propaganda against\nBangladesh. Indian media agencies and religious organizations should desist\nfrom circulating any events and issues which can potentially cause damage to\nthe bilateral relations between Bangladesh and India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Delhi should take effective steps to\nstop border killings across the Bangladesh-India border. The long-pending\nTeesta issue must be resolved. Interference in the internal affairs of\nBangladesh by some Indian political leaders must be stopped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India should behave as an \u2018all-weather ally\njust as China does towards Pakistan. Otherwise, India might lose its most\ntrustworthy and reliable friend in the world. India and Bangladesh had, have,\nand will have \u2013 hopefully – eternal strategic ties. Bangladesh needs India and\nvice versa. Indian leaders should take serious note of the recent meeting of\nthe Pakistan envoy with the Bangladesh PM. A single negative incident between India\nand Bangladesh has the potential of changing the regional geopolitical\nscenario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The article was first appeared in South\nAsia Monitor on October 28, 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MD Pathik Hasan Pakistan High Commissioner to Bangladesh Imran Ahmed Siddiqui\u2019s recent meeting with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was comprehensively covered in the media. It only shows the strategic significance of the meeting. The meeting has messages for the region, including some ominous signs for India, as it has the potential to change the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-md-pathik-hasan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119702\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}