Govt needs to discourage Delhi's diplomatic surprises THE 'surprise' April 12-13 visit of the Indian external affairs secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, seems to have been the continuation of the aggressive diplomacy that New Delhi has embarked on since the installation of the Awami League-led government in January. Such a blend of diplomacy has naturally had us worried, with the conspicuous break from international standards and conventional niceties being just one among several reasons. When the Indian external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee, came on a one-day visit to Dhaka on February 9, eyebrows were raised that he not only broke the protocol to meet the army chief but also broke with tradition to miss the courtesy call to former prime minister and leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia, a tradition that the Pranab Mukherjees honoured when the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was in power. The Indian foreign secretary's visit last week, of which his counterpart in Dhaka apparently had no forewarning of, tends to suggest that these curious decisions might not have resulted either from oversight or accident. Menon held one-on-talks with the prime minister and once more broke with protocol to meet the army chief. One wonders, if our foreign secretary visits India, whether he would be allowed to have a meeting with the Indian army chief. The Indian government seems to have a special rapport with the army chief. When the army chief visited India last year, he had meetings with the external affairs minister and defence minister of India, and also the chief minister of West Bengal besides meeting the three services chief. Be that as it may, contents of all the meetings that Menon had have been kept confidential till date. Neither the prime minister nor any foreign ministry spokesperson divulged to the public what she and the Indian external affairs secretary had discussed. Now, two Indian newspapers have come up with reports on the contents of the discussion, claiming that the purpose of Menon's visit was to warn the Bangladesh prime minister of a possible assassination attempt on her and other key government leaders. Given the importance of such a claim, we believe the government had a responsibility to inform the people of this country of the basis and the nature of the threat that the government faced and, if it is baseless, now has a responsibility to set the record straight. After all, threat to the life of an elected prime minister, if there is any, is a great concern for the citizens of this country as well. There is a danger that the aggressive style in which New Delhi has been pursuing its interests in Dhaka, since the AL-led alliance came to power could be reasonably interpreted as an assertion of dominance over a neighbouring country, confirmed by historical experiences in the region. Moreover, given the widely-held perception already that the ruling Awami League shares a comparatively better relationship with India than its main political rival, the BNP, the series of overtures from New Delhi since the newly elected government office could end up eroding the latter's popularity and credibility at home. We believe Bangladesh must have consistently good neighbourly relations with India as a necessity in regional and national interests. Hence, we urge both South Block and Dhaka to temper their actions and overtures on state-to-state, government-to-government levels, consistent with the framework of international diplomatic standards. |
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