Can’t catch a cold from B’desh-Pakistan thaw

After being left in the cold in the corridors of power in Bangladesh for several decades, Pakistan perceives a new opening in Dhaka following the ouster of the Sheikh Hasina government and the installation of a caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus. Key members of the interim government, such as student leader Nahid Islam, have spoken about the possibility of resolving the “issue of 1971” with Pakistan, while the Pakistani envoy has made a concerted outreach aimed at resetting relations.

Under Hasina, the bilateral relationship hit an all-time low as her government put on trial several leaders of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on charges of war crimes during the 1971 war of liberation. This was part of her agenda to punish those she believed had collaborated with Pakistan and worked against the emergence of an independent Bangladesh — an emotive issue in that country. The student-led movement that led to her downfall has also resulted in attempts to strip Hasina’s Awami League party and her father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, of their role in Bangladesh’s liberation movement. The interest in reconciliation with Pakistan voiced by members of Bangladesh’s interim government must be seen in this context.

While it is the right of a sovereign Bangladesh to forge relations with any country and pursue its foreign policy interests, policymakers in New Delhi still have memories of Pakistan’s role in using Bangladeshi soil for anti-India activities. India must ensure its role is not diminished in Dhaka, as any possible Dhaka-Islamabad-Beijing axis could have serious portents for Delhi. There is also a need to assure the interim government that the best interests of Bangladesh and India lie in closer economic, energy and physical connectivity, and that India will maintain a party-agnostic interest in Bangladesh’s development.