N. P. Upadhyaya
Kathmandu: A diplomat is one he who works hard to enhance ties with the country wherein he is posted.
In fact, a veteran diplomat with his “acumen” that he possesses even corrects the deteriorated ties with the country wherein he is accredited.
Much depends on such a diplomat for the enhancement of their bilateral ties.
Needless to say, the Pakistan and Bangladesh’s’ almost “frozen” bilateral ties for several political reasons since decades and decades were brought to a level from where the two countries can now speed up their ties to the satisfaction of both.
The two have come closer in a marked manner in the recent years.
The Pakistani High Commissioner Imran Ahmed Siddiqui in Bangladesh upon his arrival in Dhaka made some “secret but diplomatic” moves that he tentatively set the frozen ties to a well-functioning one.
In fact, Ambassador Siddiqui set the diplomatic ball rolling and the ball is now in Dhaka’s court.
Reports seeping out from Dhaka, claims that the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is to visit Islamabad shortly.
The two foreign offices are presumed to have been finalizing the details of Hasina’s first ever visit to Pakistan.
What is more than interesting to note is that Prime Minister Hasina has also extended “invitation” to the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Dhaka at his convenient time to which PM Khan has pleasingly agreed.
Late Julfikar Ali Bhutto, the Pakistan Prime Minister was the first from Pakistan to have visited Bangladesh in the seventies.
Upon the completion of his “successful” Dhaka visit, PM Bhutto bluntly said at a large gathering in Pakistan that ” India will now have to deal with two Pakistan in its “South Asian neighborhood”.
The South Asian population then ignored PM Bhutto’s roaring announcement, however, things the way that are moving in Dhaka-Islamabad relations of late does tell that Delhi is in essence confronting two Pakistan in its neighborhood.
Let’s recall the bitter past of the Delhi–Dhaka ties.
Mrs. Reva Das Ganguly-the Indian High Commissioner in Bangladesh wanted to pay a courtesy call on PM Sheikh Hasina in the year 2020.
Mrs. Ganguly to her utter dismay, received no response from PM’s office in Dhaka.
Yet the Indian HC pressed the Dhaka Foreign Ministry for an urgent appointment with the Prime Minister of the host country.
PM Sheikh Hasina kept on denying.
This continued denial made the Indian HC to go senile and out of sheer frustration, Ms. Ganguly left Dhaka’s hubbub for a few days and made her way to some nearby villages to inhale oxygen and restore her peace of mind that had been for sure disturbed by PM Hasina’s repeated denial to meet her in person.
The insult was of its own king to Ms. Ganguly which she may have never expected from a Bangla Prime Minister.
To recall, Bangladesh was created by splitting Pakistan by the third grade Indian lady Mrs. Indira Gandhi who got later killed by her own body guard-Beant Singh in Delhi in the early eighties.
And a clever and astute Pakistani High Commissioner Imran Ahmed Siddiqui exploited the seemingly somewhat depreciated Dhaka-Delhi ties and made a highly secret meet with the sitting Bangladesh Foreign Minister A. K. Momen in early July 2020.
In fact, it was this Momen-Siddiqui secret meet that hinted that the so far “estranged” countries now wanted to “healing” their deteriorated and frozen” ties for the benefit of the two countries and also for the larger interest of the South Asian regional politics.
This was not all.
The Momen-Siddiqui secret meet thus paved the grand way for yet another high level meet in between Prime Minister Hasina and High Commissioner Imran Siddiqui.
Let’s assume that these secret events in between Dhaka and Islamabad took place in July last year, 2020.
Not sure but high placed sources in Dhaka opine that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pleasingly invited the Pakistan High Commissioner Imran Siddiqui at her official residence on December 5, 2020.
(Unfortunately, the posted news of this meet now stands deleted by the Google for some mysterious reasons which is beyond our explanation).
Political analysts close to our news portal claim that New Delhi’s new Citizenship Act had pretty annoyed Dhaka to the extent that PM Hasina even questioned, August 28, 2020, (The Hindustan Times) the need for India’s new Citizenship Act that fast tracks citizenship for persecuted non-Muslim minorities from three countries”(namely Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh)
PM Hasina’s some annoyed comments came through an interview with the Gulf News newspaper in Abu Dhabi (UAE), which marked for the first time the Bangladeshi premier had publicly spoken on India’s newly enacted Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that surely created considerable disquiet in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka ire on Delhi could also be gauged when three Bangladeshi ministers instantly called off their scheduled visits to Delhi after the CAA was passed by the Indian Parliament.
Said PM Hasina to the Gulf news in Abu Dhabi that, (in her own words), “We don’t understand why [the Indian government] did it. It [CAA] was not necessary”.
It could also be the enactment of the same Indian Citizenship Act that may have, in all likelihood, encouraged Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to sound her displeasure against Delhi by not granting “official audience” to Mrs. Reva Ganguly-the Indian High Commissioner.
Reports also claim that the new Indian foreign secretary Harsha Shringala was not greeted by Dhaka’s foreign ministry men at the Dhaka international airport.
Some even said that the Nepali speaking Indian national could hardly meet the Prime Minister of Bangladesh.
All put together, it was an opportune moment for Imran Ahmed Siddiqui to exploit this “tensed” Dhaka-Delhi bilateral ties to the benefit of Dhaka-Islamabad bilateral ties.
Your loss is my gain in Diplomacy.
Siddiqui took the needed diplomatic steps and he perhaps won the diplomatic “subtle” battle which is what appears to have brought Dhaka and Islamabad closer to the extent that the Prime Ministers of both the countries have tentatively agreed to visit each other’s’ country at their convenience in the near future if everything goes well.
Pakistani newspaper the Dawn in the recent days reported that Imran Siddiqui who met the B’desh Prime Minister Hasina in Dhaka on October 22, 2021, extended a formal invitation to the B’desh Prime Minister.
She accepted the formal invitation.
Sheikh Hasina told the Pak envoy during the meet that “her government’s desire was for a stronger trade ties and economic collaboration with Pakistan”.
This was the second meeting between Ms. Hasina and Mr. Siddiqui in nearly eleven months.
The third meet which was in the PM’s official residence on December 5, 2020, in between the Prime Minister and Pak HC has for some mysterious-political reasons has been deleted as stated in the earlier paragraphs.
It is important to note that the meeting took place at a time when both countries have already begun to prepare for PM Hasina’s first ever visit to Pakistan.
Sources say that the visit may be in the month of November, next month.
That Dhaka and Islamabad have come closer becomes clear from the fresh move taken by Prime Minister Hasina wherein she has conveyed in writing to Pakistan her acceptance of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s invitation, which was extended last July and reiterated this Monday, October 26, 2021.
That the visit of PM Hasina to Islamabad is very near to take a formal shape becomes clear when one notices that the Pakistani side even has proposed Bangladesh to prepare a road map for the prime minister’s trip so that it is fruitful.
Moreover, Islamabad is seeking revival of bilateral mechanisms like the foreign secretaries’ dialogue, which has not been held for nearly 13 years.
The South Asian regional politics which unfortunately had been plagued by the New Delhi’s hegemonic attitude appears to take a paradigm shift with the seeming closer ties with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
If Dhaka-Islamabad close ties is the demand of the time, then this bonhomie in between the two so far alienated countries is a must to keep the political balance to a desired level which so far have had an India tilt.
Needless to say, if Dhaka and Islamabad come closer and forget the bitter past then a new era would be round the corner in India plagued South Asian politics.
Clearly, the Indian domination will come to a desired low to the benefit of the entire smaller countries of South Asia more so Nepal will reap high benefits from Dhaka-Islamabad enhanced ties-both Dhaka and Kathmandu being the founding fathers of the SAARC regional body which stands killed by the Prime Minister Modi the declared regional joker.
Now back to the main point:
Having said all these, Dhaka’s mood in the recent years to keep New Delhi at a comfortable distance, for some political reasons, like the enactment of the new Citizenship act and Indian Home Minister Amit Sah’a undiplomatic remarks that the Bangladeshi nationals who have sneaked into the Indian territory, if any, were no less than what he called them as “termites” too provided an opportunity for Beijing to enter into Dhaka with some developmental schemes.
It worked, it appears.
It could also be interpreted that Pakistan-the number one iron friend of China, too may have sounded Beijing to extend its helping hands towards Dhaka or China may instead have hinted Dhaka to inch closer to Islamabad in order to balance the political weight that cuts down the size and arrogance of the regional rouge that India is.
Needless to say, if Dhaka and Islamabad forge comfortable ties with each other during the visit of PM Hasina then that would signal India that its competitors are ready to face any challenge that may come from the Indian side.
Dhaka-Islamabad enhanced ties at the highest levels are also needed to keep not only the South Asian political equilibrium in good shape but also it can act like a political deterrent to the elephantine sick man of South Asia that surely is India born 1947.
Notably, Pakistan is already a nuclear deterrent to India.
This has some political connotation which India understands better.
Delhi’s ill treatment to Dhaka could be taken to have prompted Dhaka to inch closer to Beijing rapidly to which Beijing willingly responded.
Said the Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen talking to Xinhua News Agency August 28, 2021, that Dhaka-Beijing ties have further deepened during the Corona-19 pandemic that jolted the entire World.
“From the very beginning, they [China] have been very supportive,” Momen said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese News Agency.
Dhaka’s increasing bonhomie with Beijing created ripples in Delhi’s establishment quarters and some analysts even challenged Dhaka that without Delhi’s support, Dhaka can'[t move ahead in so many fields.
B’desh has a sound economy now which is perhaps best in South Asia.
Dismissing New Delhi strong worded remarks being made on Dhaka but a few myopic commentators in Delhi, Lailufar Yasmin, a professor of international relations at the University of Dhaka, said that “bringing China in Bangladesh-India bilateral relations is more about creating hype.”
Professor Yasmin said instead, “Bangladesh should have an independent policy so that it can deal with India, China, America and other great powers separately”.
To recall, during the 2016 visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh, Beijing offered a stunning $24 billion in loans.
Since 2016, media reports claim that China has consistently supported Bangladesh financially.
As a result, Dhaka’s relations with Beijing have naturally strengthened over the last four years”.
It is this close proximity with Beijing that irritates Delhi’s South Asia’s policy makers.
India is an inferiority complex ridden nation.
Delhi forgets to understand that Dhaka is a sovereign entity and that Dhaka is free to act in a way that suits to its political, social and commercial interests.
All put together, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s impending trip to Islamabad bodes well not only for these two countries but also it tremendously benefits the entire region.
How the two estranged nations, Pakistan and Bangladesh now work out modalities of greater and enhanced cooperation and how their strong ties benefit the smaller nations of South Asia (plagued by the Indian rouge nation indeed) plus the SAARC regional body will have to be watched carefully.
Nepal is the current Chair of the now defunct regional body.
The Cricket match in between Pakistan and India played in Dubai which recorded/registered a humiliating defeat for the Indian side too was tentatively celebrated in Bangladesh which in many more ways than one tells that it was the opportune moment for both Dhaka and Islamabad to take constructive steps in their bilateral ties that surely is in the wellbeing of the smaller South Asian nation including Nepal.
Even in India, the Pakistani victory was celebrated by a section of the Indian society.
Observers in Nepal hope that the two countries urgently mend their differences, if any still haunting, and set an example that irks and irritates the Indian establishment run by the gang of Four-Modi-Sah, Doval and Shankar.
Surely, India’s loss is Pakistan’s net gain both in political and diplomatic terms.
That’s all.