Editorial
Time to debunk 'friendly India' myth
REGARDLESS of what the Awami League-led government would like to have the people believe, India has thus far appeared apathetic, if not antipathetic, towards Bangladesh's interest since independence — geopolitical, economic or otherwise. The 'strategic informal alliance' that India has forged with Myanmar for settlement of their disputes with Bangladesh over maritime boundary is the latest manifestation of the characteristic antagonism that New Delhi apparently nurtures towards Dhaka. According to a report front-paged in New Age on Monday, the 'strategic informal alliance' was forged during preparatory meetings on the visit of Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe to India early this year. The refusal by both India and Myanmar to send their delegations on return visits in April and June respectively for expert-level bilateral talks on maritime boundary seems to be the immediate outcome of the alliance. It appears that India has managed to take Myanmar into its fold, to put Bangladesh in a tight corner vis-à-vis negotiations on maritime boundary. If it is a friendly gesture, one wonders what an act of hostility by India would look like.
In fact, it increasingly seems that only the AL-led government and its crony 'international relations experts' see friendly gestures in the many decidedly unfriendly, if not downright hostile, actions of India these days. Needless to say, the list of such unfriendly actions is rather too long. While the AL-led government trumpeted that the visit of the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to New Delhi in January and the consequent Dhaka-Delhi joint communiqué had marked the beginning of a new era in the bilateral relations between the two close-door neighbours, thus far the Indian government has not only not shown any willingness to resolve the irritants in bilateral relations that it itself has created and nurtured all these years—sharing of the waters of the Teesta and other common rivers, exchange of enclaves, demarcation of territorial boundaries, non-tariff and para-tariff barriers to exports of Bangladeshi products, fencing of borders, to name the obvious few, but also appeared eager to create additional problems for Bangladesh. The Border Security Force of India continue with the killing of Bangladeshi civilians on the border at regular intervals and also orchestration of incursion of Indian national into Bangladesh territory for harvesting of crops and fishing.
