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Pak-Bangla Relations hit all-time low |
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Pakistan-Bangladesh relations took a body blow last week when the Pak deputy commissioner in Dhaka, Irfan-ur Rahman Raja, stated at a seminar that the Bangladeshi death count on the 1971 genocide caused by the West Pakistani Army was an exaggeration. In the outburst of public emotion that followed, Islamabad announced it would withdraw this diplomat. But Islamabad did not inform the Bangladesh foreign office of Rahman’s date of departure. Whether it was a slip or a deliberate avoidance of niceties, the matter,has been played up in the Dhaka Press as it rubbed salt into injured Bangladesh sentiments.
General Pervez Musharraf’s coup of the elected civilian Pak Government led to hostile relations with the Sheikh Hasina Government. In September, the Bangladesh Prime Minister told the Untied Nations SEcurity Council that military coups should not be tolerated. General Musharraf canceled the appointment with her the following day. Though Pakistan realised its folly in hurting India’s neighbour and sent feelers to make up for the slight, the damage had already been done. The Raja incident has, according to a top Bangladesh official, made things tough for pro Pakistan elements in Khaki and smoothened matters for those who trust India more.
India, though not party to this exchange of rhetoric, is undoubtedly interested in this side light to the great sub-continental conflict raging over Kashmir. Under Begum Hasina, relations between the two countries had been steadily deteriorating over the 1971 question, largely because of the her Government’s insistence on resurrecting the role played by her father, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rehman in the birth of the nation. Nawaz Shariff had offered token appreciation because he could not give the apology Hasina demanded because pressure from the Army. But General Musharraf was hostile to the suggestion. His formulation on the isue was “Bangladesh should move forward.
Bangladesh’s relations with India cooled in the 1970s and 198os. Its military regimes mended fences with china and built and Islam ic blood bond with Paksitan in their bid to appease the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was politically a major force. Begum zia, known in the country as a fierce India-baiter, followed up with this policy much to India’s concern. Begum Hasina faces elections next year and in this context, the continued whipping of Pakistan in popular Bangladeshi imagination can only work in favour of New Delhi, which is anxious to see the Awami League stay in power.
The complexion of Bangladesh politics is undergoing a sea change with the Bangladesh High Court having sent H M Ershad Chairman of the Jatiya Party and the former President of the country, back to prison for corruption . Most significant is his debarment form contesting elections for five years. It is a quirk of history that such a fate awaited the country’s longest serving ruler; the founder of the Jatiya Party is not only its guiding spirit but also one of the main pillars of the BNP led Begum Zia’s four-party opposition combine which has vowed to oust Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. His party’s secretary general too has been batted from contesting election on grounds of moral turpitude. The election bar will no doubt dishearten Ershad’s followers. They had returned him to Parliament twice in 1991 and 1996 form five Rangpur seats with massive margins despite his being in jail on both occasions.
The greatest worry to Begum Zia and the leaders of two Muslim fundamentalist parties including the Jamat-e-Islam is whether an already truncated Jatiya Party will be able to stay together. Already it has suffered two splits which has sapped its morale and strength. With his blessing leaders of one of his party’s factions had broken away to align itself with Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League. In fact his once right hand man is now a key minister in Hasina’s Government.
What is worrying Begum Zia and others of the four party combine is that Ershad is becoming a big liability. The mass image that he has does not help the combine. It was precisely because of this that the combine’s liaison committee did no issue any statement sympathising with Ershad’s plight for which his followers expressed considerable dismay. The electoral arithmetic had compelled Begum Zia to have Ershad as an ally since his party won 33 seats in the last parliamentary poll. But in the hanged scenario any linkage with Ershad may do more harm than any good to the combine.
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