Good neighbours

For the first couple of years or so Bangladesh had to depend solely on the cooperation and support from India. It is Indian wheat (7.5 lakh tons), Indian lubricant, salt, rice, and clothing (purchased mainly on credit) which could satisfy to a large extent the need of the Bangladeshis at that time. Even the wheat purchased from Russia (on credit) was obtained on Indian guarantee. Bangladesh, however, could repay this debt within five years' time and never failed to show its gratitude as much as possible.

When many of our top bureaucrats and politicians could not be sure about the viability of a state, how could another state, say, India, be? Even when India signed the Indira-Mujib agreement in 1974 Bangladesh did not have enough capability to understand clearly and fully the intricacies of an international agreement. There was not a single agreement concluded by Bangladesh which went in its favour. Thus it is not surprising that India would take advantage of the clauses of the agreement which went in its favour. The reason behind non-implementation of Indira-Mujib agreement during the last 32 years, broadly speaking, is the wish of India because such continuation may mainly hurt Bangladesh's interest and not much of India's.

Needless to say, the war of independence brought benefit both for Bangladesh and India. But it is not fair for India to expect any subservience from Bangladesh, a country whose people may be poor but they are always rebellious of undue authority. Perhaps they never could think that Bangladesh can ever take different line from India in its diplomatic dealings when necessary. Because of Bangladesh's lesser experience in the field of diplomacy India always remained the gainer in its dealings with Bangladesh. Indian actions created so many problems for Bangladesh. Among them are Farakka Barrage, Talpatti Island, various border disputes, push in of Indian refugees and recent Tipai Mukh Dam.

There may be various reasons for highly unbalanced trade relationship between the regional countries but not much good gesture has yet been shown by India to narrow the gap. So far India has denied the facility to develop closer trade relationship between Bangladesh and Nepal and Bangladesh and Bhutan. India is even reluctant to allow easing of some non-tariff restrictions on exports from Bangladesh.

India tried hard to obtain gas from Bangladesh. It also pressed enormously for allowing her transit facility over Bangladesh to facilitate movement of goods to the north-eastern side. Bangladesh could not accept any of these proposals because of uncertainty of quantity of exportable surplus of gas and mainly for security reasons, respectively. Because of political restlessness in its eastern provinces, India has not been able to exploit the gas reserves of eastern provinces (particularly in the state of Tripura).

Desperately energy hungry India could not procure gas from Bangladesh either. Supply of gas from Iran through Pakistan would be costlier. Moreover, US is opposed to India-Iran gas deal. Its attempt to obtain gas from Myanmar has not yet been successful because of Bangladesh's refusal to allow laying of gas pipeline through its territory without Indian agreement to allow transit facilities for Bangladesh-Nepal and Bangladesh-Bhutan trade. So far Bangladesh has not heard any positive reply.

Saarc, because of its purely regional character, could not help improving Bangladesh-India relationship to any appreciable extent. Thus Bangladesh will have to go only for bilateral negotiations to solve her problems. If the spirit of give and take does not prevail, if there is no mutual trust and confidence, if one party tries to dictate and only gain from the other party no solution can be expected.

Because of lack of understanding with India if Bangladesh has to opt for closer relationship with China it may not be of any advantage to India. Without Bangladesh's cooperation it will be certainly difficult for Indian union government to administer the seven sisters effectively. On the other hand without Indian cooperation Bangladesh may not be able to procure a large number of industrial raw materials at competitive prices, not to speak of certain essential consumer items.

In the recent working group meeting it has become clear that for the first time India is convinced that it needs to settle border and other disputes with Bangladesh early. This is encouraging for Bangladesh. It appears that the past meetings between these two countries during the last thirty-two years at different levels on bilateral issues (except trade) were not of much significance to India.

What is needed now is (a) regular meetings at expert level, (b) exchange of data, (c) joint border inspections to control border smuggling (particularly arms and explosives or materials for manufacturing explosives or other strategic materials), (d) encouraging border trade, (e) relaxing non-tariff barriers as much as possible, (f) signing of extradition treaty, (g) encouraging interactions between the peoples, (h) media to promote better understanding, and (i) (if possible) better mutual understanding between two bureaucracies.

The term of the four-party alliance is going to be over soon. If Jamaat can come again in alliance with any major party it is highly unlikely that Indo-Bangla relations will improve. It has become evident from the recent apparently unsuccessful visit of Khaleda Zia to India.

India may come closer to Bangladesh only when she can convince the world that her fundamentalist elements are fully under control and are incapable of destroying the secular spirit of Bangladesh. The new government, when it comes after the election, must not overlook the prospect of growing danger from fundamentalism in Bangladesh.

If the image of Bangladesh as a moderate Muslim country is to be restored and all the minority communities are to be assured of full religious freedom, safety and security, mere utterances of goodwill (or lip sympathy) with no proper effective measures will not bear any positive result. We shall have to turn the spirit of independence movement into a struggle for building Bangladesh along with all the people irrespective of faith. The emergence of communal forces must be stopped for the development of a secular and democratic Bangladesh.

The recently concluded working group meeting may not be considered as of much success, but it has at least resulted in identifying the right approach to proceed with the existing problems. Close neighbours Bangladesh and India must be able to resolve their problems soon.

ABMS Zahur is a former Joint Secretary.