Mentioning that India is ‘right next to’ Bangladesh, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said its understanding of Bangladesh should be helpful to the US.
“While the US is at some distance from Bangladesh, we’re right next to it. So our understanding of the region and understanding of sentiments of the people in the region should be helpful in the positions they want to take,” he said.
The Hindu, an influential Indian English daily, quoted the Indian External Affairs Minister in a report published on Monday.
As the political situation in Bangladesh becomes increasingly volatile, India has hinted at the need for a united approach between India and the United States, the report mentioned.
“We don’t discuss democracy in third countries but we do hope the US… there were obviously some differences of perception (with respect to Bangladesh) that I noticed last time I was there (Washington), particularly in the dealing of the present government with some of their own internal institutions,” Salman Khurshid told The Hindu.
Officials in the Ministry of External Affairs said they have been trying to close this difference of approach between India and the US for quite some time.
The report also mentioned that violence has increased in Bangladesh, mainly over the coming general election that is being boycotted by the main Opposition party and its allies.
Besides, violent protests hit the country each time Jamaat-e-Islami leaders were arraigned by the courts and one senior leader was hanged, it said.
While Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina proposed an all-party interim government, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader, wants the caretaker government system to oversee the elections.
“Bangladesh situation is obviously very uncertain and delicate because the opposition and the government have not been able to come to an agreement on how to proceed,” Khurshid observed.
While this was a major concern for India, “We don’t take sides on what happens in elections in a friendly country. For democracy to prosper there should at least be a commitment that violence will not be allowed to distort the democratic process,” he added.
Source: UNB Connect
While India’s RAW and other clandestine operators are in every corner of Bangladesh, the Indian Foreign Minister is playing smart with his rhetoric. India has done a great mistake by putting their boots inside every government organization, intelligence service and the armed forces. The morally weak AL government is nothing but a pawn at the hands of India. It is a shame for proud Bangladeshis. We do not need India to develop our economy and democracy. AL had destroyed the pride of the Bengali nation twice; one in 1974 by introducing a one party system making Sheikh Mujib the eternal President and now in 2013/2014 by having a farcical election.
I fully agree with each and every point that Mr. Hussein has made above. I just wish to add that US is unlikely to be pursuaded that easily. After all, a similar advice of a neighbouring country in the Middle East that influenced its policies in the region, simply brought disaster for it, morally, politically and indeed, economically!
Fascinating diplomatic gobbledygook.
2.India being next door to Bangladesh is a definite drawback because of Delhi’s constant, pervasive, peremptory and imperious interference in Dhaka’s affairs eg FS Shujata’s hectoring of Ershad. The US can make up its own minds, thank you, without Delhi’s proprietary views.
3. To attribute violence to AL and opposition failure to agree confusing cause with effect. Violence emanates primarily from AL’s constitutional chicanery, autocracy and thuggery (using state organs and party armed cadres to stifle dissent, prevent assembly and kill protesters).
4. To claim that “we don’t take sides in elections in a friendly country” is laughable. Delhi’s unstinting support of Hasina by word and deed has been a major cause for her ill-advised obstinacy and seen a marked inevitable but regrettable rise in anti-Indianism, esp amongst the chattering classes, a development not monopolized by Dhaka. Perhaps a change in navigation and compass is overdue.
One of the problems of US foreign policy is the use of local “allies” to serve their foreign policy interests. “Allies” like Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar etc., to name a few, have often been a burden than a help, with, for example, Saudi Arabia now turning out to be the major exporter of Jihadist terrorists all over the world.
While India’s interest in serving US policy in the region is understandable,it would be better off to leave this one to the US to handle.Salman Khurshid’s “understanding of Bangladesh”, I am afraid, may turn out to be another “rotton egg” on the plate of US policy makers.