Nepal-India’s ‘Love & Hate’ Neighbor

SALEEM SAMAD

India is in a diplomatic quagmire with its neighbors in a series of political crises of ‘youth quake’ by Gen Z (generation Z), which have struck Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal in South Asia.

South Block in New Delhi, before it could understand what was happening in Kathmandu, Nepal’s elected government, headed by Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, collapsed and fled to an unknown destination. India miscalculated its steps in response to the uprising among its neighbors. Delhi is having hiccups with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal joining the bandwagon, after its recent political turmoil.

For 14 months since becoming the prime minister of Nepal last July, Sharma Oli kept knocking on the door of South Block in New Delhi. This September, the door was supposed to swing open to let him in. His political mistake with its giant neighbor, according to New Delhi, the newly elected Prime Minister Sharma Oli made his first official visit to China, instead of her neighbor India.

China’s inroads into Nepal with mega projects, offers, and connectivity irked India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership. China’s massive infrastructure investments under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), including projects like the cross-border railway and road networks, are seen by Nepalese as tangible signs of development and economic opportunity, further enhancing China’s appeal over India.

“Oli knew his premiership would remain shaky without New Delhi’s backing. India, which has deep trade and cultural ties with landlocked Nepal, has traditionally been a big determinant of the longevity of governments in Kathmandu,” wrote The Diplomat news portal.

Alas, the planned visit of Sharma Oli to Delhi has been dented by a two-day youth-quake by Gen Z (Genji) street protest. Interestingly, China’s response to Gen Z to the current political developments appeared cautious and calculated, reflecting its broader regional strategic interests.

Finally, on 10 September, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson issued a statement saying, “China and #Nepal are each other’s traditional friends and neighbors. Hope the various sectors in Nepal will approach the domestic issues properly and restore order and stability in the country soon.”

After 2008, Beijing has carefully treaded with the Communist leadership in Nepal to deepen its diplomatic ties and goodwill in Nepal. The move has been viewed as a key element for strategic influence over the region. Leaders like Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda did not hesitate to use the China card to stoke the nationalistic sentiments in Nepal.

Rishi Gupta, commentator on Global Affairs with India’s The Print portal that a day after the protests began in Nepal on 8 September, India stated the next day that it was “closely monitoring the developments in Nepal…(and) our thoughts and prayers are with the families and deceased. India also added that “as a close friend and neighbor, we hope that all concerned will exercise restraint.”

The same evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, “The violence in Nepal is heart-rending. I am anguished that many young people have lost their lives. The stability, peace, and prosperity of Nepal are of utmost importance to us. I humbly appeal to all my brothers and sisters in Nepal to support peace.”

In the same statement, India had urged that “issues on which there are differences should be resolved through dialogue in an atmosphere free from violence and intimidation and institutionalized in a manner that would enable broad-based ownership and acceptance,” as it was deemed as external interference. It would not be an exaggeration to say that small-state syndrome became an intense public mood in Nepal as it approached relations with India, especially after Nepal promulgated the constitution in 2015, wrote Gupta.

There was a divided crowd on social media about India’s approach, whether it was helpful and friendly or interventionist, but this came as no surprise, as the so-called border blockade of 2015 had already set the social media toolkit on India with hashtags like #BackoffIndia #GoBackIndia, wrote The Print.

For most who are watching Nepal closely, glimpses of the street protest and follow-up that unfolded in Kathmandu were reminiscent of the uprising that gripped Bangladesh in 2024 and Sri Lanka in 2022. In four years, three street protest movements showed how public anger against political corruption toppled the heads of government of Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, and led to their capitals.

The three South Asian countries are bedecked with corruption, nepotism, and favoritism by party leaders, lawmakers, and their family and relatives, who enjoyed the luxury and comfort from the perks from state exchequers, handsome commissions from government contracts, and sharks of bank loans.

Though Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also India’s closest South Asian neighbors, Delhi’s relationship with Kathmandu is special because of historic people-to-people, economic, and strategic ties, wrote the BBC news portal. The protests in Nepal were initially seen by India’s political leadership as just young people upset at not being able to use social media. Delhi woke up when the government collapsed after the uprising escalated quickly.

On September 11, Kantipur, the country’s leading daily, reported that while Western media explored corruption, unemployment, and the social media ban as triggers, much of the Indian media pushed conspiracy theories – claiming either foreign powers like China and the US or a “deep state,” a conspiratorial term denoting bureaucracy and security forces, were behind the protest.

Nepal’s government has officially announced a total of 72 fatalities from the recent protests led by Gen Z. The total casualty of the nationwide Gen Z protests has reached 72. Newly appointed Prime Minister Karki of the caretaker government has declared that bereaved families of those killed in the protests will be compensated, while 191 still receiving treatment in hospitals will be treated for free.

The protesters killed during the Gen Z movement have been declared martyrs and cremated with due state honors. On 17 September, the nation paid tributes to the fallen protesters and declared the day a national holiday.

Viral videos on TikTok and Instagram have contrasted the lavish lifestyles of political families, with trends and hashtags #NepoKids #NepoBabies, #PoliticiansNepoBabyNepal involving designer clothes, foreign travel, and luxury cars, with the harsh realities faced by young people, including unemployment and forced migration.

Nepal is fraught with frequent political instability, and each prime minister’s tenure has lasted just a year or two since the new constitution came into effect in 2015. The country abolished its monarchy in 2006, after a violent uprising that forced its former king to give up his authoritarian rule, the American-based Associated Press (AP) writer said.

South Block and the ruling BJP are intensely watching political developments across the border, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi swiftly reacting to the unfolding events and writing his feelings on Twitter (X). “The violence in Nepal is heart-rending. I am anguished that many young people have lost their lives,” Modi wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

The Gen Z youth leaders protested during a scheduled meeting with the country’s Indian trained military chief, Ashok Raj Sigdel, over why Indian media had been given clearance to attend the meeting at the military headquarters, where a planned dialogue was scheduled, while Nepali media were barred.

While selecting the possible candidates for the prime minister, the youth leaders struck names for the premiership, who are pro-Indian and have close ties with Delhi. What angered the Gen Z protesters was that the Indian television channels declared the protests they had joined were not about inequality but about restoring Nepal’s monarchy.

While right-wing television led the charge, newspapers and digital outlets also amplified the narrative. In the process, their coverage downplayed the protesters’ actual grievances, corruption, inequality, and economic hardship by focusing on the theme that was never central to the demonstrations.

Nepali youth demanding accountability versus Indian media, especially outlets close to the ruling BJP, eager to weave the protests into its own narrative, wrote an Indian media outlet.

Indian pro-establishment “Godi Media” was actively downplaying the Gen Z movement in Nepal. Fuelling the narrative are allegations from Indian broadcasters and politicians that rioters vandalized Nepal’s Pashupatinath temple, a revered Hindu site in the Himalayan nation, BBC reported.

“Some rioters, hiding within the crowd of protesters, attempted to vandalize the temple, and it was only after this incident that the army was deployed,” an anchor for the right-wing Zee News, a staunch ‘Godi Media’ television channel, said in a report featuring a clip of people climbing onto the temple’s gate and violently shaking it. KN Swami, a respected monk in the Pashupatinath temple, also posted clips on social media to refute claims it had been attacked by protesters.

Jivesh Mishra, a member of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in eastern Bihar state, which shares a border with Nepal, told reporters last week, “An attack on a temple is an attack on (the) Hindu faith.” Hundreds of social media posts have claimed without evidence that the protests were “instigated and funded” by “anti-Hindu forces and Islamists” to attack religious sites.

The French news agency, AFP fact-checkers, traced the footage to a religious ritual called Naxal Bhagwati Jatra, filmed weeks before the violence. Similarly, the Godi Media have been actively doing the same with political developments in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Other posts viewed thousands of times on Twitter (X), Instagram, Threads, and Facebook have compared the unrest in Nepal with protests in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority country where a student-led revolt ousted long-time leader Sheikh Hasina, daughter of the founder of Bangladesh.

Why is India worried about the instability in Nepal? Delhi deems direct and indirect security threats to India’s interests. In the political crisis in Nepal, the 1,700-kilometre open border with India could be a security threat to the region. Political chaos and a breakdown of law and order can lead to a surge in cross-border smuggling, human trafficking, and an increase in the activities of anti-India elements, wrote the popular NDTV network’s opinion column.

The potential for a security vacuum in Nepal could be exploited by hostile actors, particularly Pakistan’s ISI, to foment trouble in India, cautioned opposition Congress lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, a popular writer and commentator.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, 17 November 2025

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist based in Bangladesh and a media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders. He is the recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and the Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleem.samad.1971@gmail.com>; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

https://stratheia.com/nepal-indias-love-hate-neighbor/

Nepalese Protesters Cries 'Don't Mess With GenZ'

SALEEM SAMAD

We know that the Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has resigned and fled on a military helicopter to an unknown destination amid the nation reels from its worst two-day unrest in decades, and 19 people have died in the streets of the capital Kathmandu. The 73-year-old Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, known as K P Sharma Oli, leads a coalition government that includes the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and the staunchly pro-Indian Nepali Congress.

Many South Asian political scientists and observers have noted that the people’s uprising against corrupt and autocratic governments has shadows that occurred in Sri Lanka (2022), then Bangladesh (2024), and now Nepal.

The curious question is, where will the people’s revolution strike next? The uprising will spark only where social media is curbed and corruption among politicians in alliance with bureaucracy and police administration becomes unbearable for the ‘aam janata’ (general public), says Dr Rakim Al Hasan, Executive Director of Centre For Partnership Initiative.

Nepal’s political legacy is no different from the South Asian nations. The country erupted into riot after a social media ban was clamped as an online anti-elite movement was gaining traction.

The Himalayan country is currently witnessing one of its most widespread youth uprisings in modern history, triggered by a government-imposed social-media ban and later followed by growing anger over corruption and nepotism. What sparked Nepal’s Gen Z protests and the rise of the ‘Nepo kid’ campaign?

The ban came just as a viral online movement targeting political elites and their children – dubbed “nepo kids” was gaining traction. Borrowing from the Hollywood term “nepo baby,” Nepali users began exposing the lavish lifestyles of politicians’ children, accusing them of misusing public funds.

Posts on TikTok and Reddit, some viewed over a million times, highlighted foreign trips, luxury purchases, and perceived entitlement, sparking outrage among young citizens. While the social-media shutdown served as the immediate catalyst, protesters say the deeper issue is systemic corruption, inequality, and discrimination.

The Kathmandu government argued it is not banning social media but trying to bring them in concurrence with the Nepali laws. The social media users in the Himalayan country challenged the constitution and traditional laws of the state.

The uprising broke out after the government last week blocked access to 26 platforms – including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube, China’s Tencent, Snapchat, Pinterest, and X (formerly Twitter) following a directive requiring all social-media companies to register with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

Thousands of young Nepali people, many in their 20s or even younger, got together to protest in the capital Kathmandu and other cities in the Himalayan country. Many of the protesters were students and joined the demonstrations in their school or college uniforms. The organizers called the protests “demonstrations by Gen Z”.

The government quickly lifted the ban and launched an investigation, but it is too little and too late. The agitating youths demanded the removal of political parties from power and the establishment of a civilian government. The youth representatives have urged during the dialogue with the state party and the Chief of Nepal Army Staff, Ashokraj Sigdel.

The army has urged the protesting youths to remain calm and hold peace talks, but said the youths that after Parliament has been dissolved. The army has been deployed since 10 September morning. The curfews remain in place as discontent continues to simmer.

The army has warned of strict action against vandalism, arson, looting, and violent activities in the name of agitation as punishable crimes. As a result, life in the valley is gradually returning to normal, and the situation has significantly calmed down.

Many of the youth protesters have voiced support for Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah, a former popular rapper and engineer by profession, to lead the dialogue for peace and security, which covers issues such as forming a civilian government, dissolving parliament, and holding fresh elections.

Meanwhile, the chaotic city of Kathmandu has begun to be cleaned up after the violent protests. Locals and agitating youths are taking to the streets to clean up the mess after the street riots. Last week, Nepal’s government blocked access to several social media platforms after the companies missed the deadline to register under new regulations, aimed at cracking down on misuse.

A government notice directed the regulator, Nepal Telecommunications Authority, to deactivate unregistered social media. The services will be restored once the platforms comply with its order, the government said. Local media reported that the banned platforms include Meta’s Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Alphabet’s YouTube, China’s Tencent and Snapchat, Pinterest, and X. Blocking the platforms had hit content creators, influencers, and cut small businesses from reaching customers.

The government says it took the action after repeated warnings to the platforms to open offices in Nepal, a Cabinet decision last month setting a deadline, as well as a 17 August Supreme Court ruling that undermines Nepal’s open society, and also requiring them to register and pay the requisite taxes.

However, the Bill cited in the ban, ‘The Operation, Use, and Regulation of Social Media in Nepal’ has not yet been passed by Parliament. Some social media platforms, which were already paying taxes in Nepal even though they are not officially registered, have also been blocked.

The Regional Director of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Beh Lih Yi said ‘Nepal’s sweeping ban on social media sets a dangerous precedent for press freedom. Blocking online news platforms vital to journalists will undermine reporting and the public’s right to information.’

The rights activists have said that while there is a need for the government to regulate extreme content and hate speech, officials appear to be more intent on clamping down on free speech and trying to force platforms to share the revenue.

Nepal’s youngsters say the protest is an expression of their widespread frustration over the social media ban. The widespread arson was sparked by the killing of at least 19 young protesters as they tried to storm the century-old old magnificent parliament building.

A peaceful rally by youth against corruption and nepotism by Nepal’s Gen Z (Generation Z) movement in Kathmandu escalated after the killings. With the prime minister and other ministers having fled the capital, the government not visible and the security forces in retreat, protesters have had the run of the three cities of Kathmandu Valley – Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, and Kathmandu.

As protests spread, police withdrew from guarding official buildings, and thousands of protesters entered the federal government secretariat at Singha Darbar, ransacking and setting fire to buildings and the Parliament building, homes of ministers, hotels and other properties.

Kathmandu Valley was shrouded in smoke under heavy monsoon clouds with a pungent smell in the capital. Many people in Nepal think corruption is rampant, and the government of Prime Minister Sharma Oli has been criticized by opponents for failing to deliver on its promises to tackle graft or make progress in addressing longstanding economic issues.

All members of the opposition RPP (Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) is a constitutional monarchist and Hindu nationalist political party in Nepal, and the RSP (Rastriya Swatantra Party, a National Independence Party) have resigned from parliament. The headquarters of all three main political parties were also set on fire.

Some of the protesters also want an end to federalism, which was also the demand of opposition parties like the RSP and the pro-monarchist RPP. Although the protests were sparked by Gen Z protesters, disparate groups, including monarchists, anti-federalists, disgruntled Maoists, dissidents from the mainstream parties, and others, have joined the protests.

One thing that united them is extreme frustration with the mainstream parties and their leaders, past and present, who have taken turns running and ruining the country. Nepal has struggled with political instability for decades and has seen 14 governments in 17 years.

Nepal’s people’s revolution in 1950–1951, called the Anti-Rana Movement, reduced the king to a figurehead. With support from India and Nepali Congress activists, the revolution ended the Rana autocracy.

The 1990 People’s Movement, a mass uprising, forced King Birendra to end the absolute monarchy. Nepal became a constitutional monarchy with multi-party democracy. The 2006 People’s Movement, after King Gyanendra seized direct power in 2005, ignited mass protests. In April 2006, the king was forced to restore parliament and hand power to the people.

This paved the way for the monarchy’s abolition in 2008, when Nepal became a federal democratic republic. Thus, the final revolution against the king was in 2006, and the monarchy was officially abolished in 2008. Once again, the revolt against corruption, nepotism, and inequality has gripped Nepal.

Nepal is not alone in regulating social media. Most of the dictatorial, autocratic, and totalitarian regimes, including China, ban most Western platforms, and Russia and Turkey regulate them and require platforms to locate their data servers in the country. The regimes in Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Afghanistan have shut down social media apps and blocked current affairs news. Gulf countries allow social media but keep tight control on dissent.

Nepal’s uprising is expected to bring freedom, but history warns. After the revolution and street protests, the countries have fallen back to the same old tradition of politics and governance. Meanwhile, neighboring India and China, the regional powers, are monitoring the unrest that toppled the Sharma Oli government due to potential implications for regional stability.

The GenZ movement in Nepal is entering a critical juncture in its transition to democracy. The task of restoring law and order, addressing youth-led reform demands, and navigating political transition, all under close regional scrutiny.

Himalayan GenZ protests toppled a failed political order but left deep scars of destruction, loss, and chaos. The real test now lies in whether the youth can transform their zeal for protest into the discipline of governance, wrote Nepal’s popular English daily The Republica.

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 12 September 2025

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist based in Bangladesh and a media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders. He is the recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and the Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleem.samad.1971@gmail.com>; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Why is Bangladesh-India Relations Cliff-Hanging?

SALEEM SAMAD

Last week, Bangladesh stated that there are no barriers from Dhaka’s end to improve relations with New Delhi, but progress requires the cooperation of both sides, remarked Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain.

Why has Bangladesh publicly declared a willingness to improve bilateral relations, and what does this reveal about the nature of the current impasse? Delhi and Dhaka often boast of a century-old heritage, tradition, and cultural relations. Suddenly, both countries have ceased flowery diplomatic jargon. A stark indicator that the relationship is sailing through a rough sea.

South Asia researcher Sohini Bose with an Indian based Observatory Research Foundation (ORF) said, Bangladesh resets its foreign policy post-Hasina, India faces a rising challenge – a friend turning uncertain and Pakistan gaining ground. She deliberately did not mention developing relations with China, the United States, and the European Union. It is understood why she is playing with the Pakistan card.

The bilateral relations only a year ago were passing through a ‘Golden Era’. The so-called relationship was limited to two persons (Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi) and the Awami League and Bharatiya Janata Party.

India has developed love and hate relations with its neighbors. Bilateral and regional relations are sailing smoothly with Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan, of course, with Bangladesh and Pakistan, which are often looked at with suspicion and distrust.

The Indian pundit wrote that Bangladesh and India are connected in multiple ways, extending beyond just the bilateral relationship between their governments. They share an enduring bond through their common history, culture, land, transboundary rivers, and adjacent maritime zones. Overjealous Indian leaders contemplate that Dhaka is getting closer to Islamabad and sticking close to New Delhi. Which is a half-truth!

The giant neighbor has indeed helped Bangladesh gain independence in 1971 from Pakistan. Time and again, the jealous leaders were intermittently reminded of India’s contribution to the independence struggle. India has provided shelter to ousted Sheikh Hasina, who is living in exile somewhere in Delhi. Like King Kong, Indian leaders should beat their chest and proudly claim hosting the most-wanted person of interest – Sheikh Hasina! Unfortunately, they are not doing it.

Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain lamented that there was no update from India on the request for former Sheikh Hasina’s extradition to face the music of justice for crimes against humanity. “We [Bangladesh] wrote once, and updates will be shared if another request is sent,” Hossain said his government would continue to pursue Hasina’s extradition.

After Hasina fled her country in August 2024 after the collapse of her tyrannical regime following a mass uprising dubbed as Monsoon Revolution, Dhaka sent a diplomatic note to Delhi last December, formally requesting her extradition.

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, chief of the Interim Government, recently told an international media outlet that he may authorize the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for the trial of Sheikh Hasina and top officials of her government for committing crimes against humanity during her tenure (2009-2024) – especially the July-August revolution.

The trial in the ICJ would be based on a fact-finding investigation conducted by the Geneva-based United Nations human rights agency (OHCHR). The report has evidence of Hasina ordering his security forces to use excessive force and shoot and kill the street protesters. The fact-finding report claims nearly 1,400 people, mostly students, youths, vendors, day-laborers, public transport drivers, restaurant staff, and garment workers, during 36 days of the Monsoon Revolution.

Delhi remains conspicuously tight-lipped and gives no sign from the South Block in New Delhi of their mind. The Indian government made several remarks about the persecution of the Hindu population and urged protection and safety guarantees for the community. India also urged Bangladesh that the Interim Government should hold an exclusive and credible election in the upcoming national elections in February 2026.

The remark was made after the oldest party, Awami League, which inspired the independence of the country, the political activities were restricted, and its student wing, Chattra League, was banned for committing violence against the protesters during last year’s July-August street protest.

India has seen Bangladesh through the prism of Hasina. That was the reason Delhi is paying heavily, said Professor Sriradha Dutta of OP Jindal Global University in India. Satisfied with what India had received from Bangladesh. Delhi deliberately ignored the simmering discontent of the opposition, dissidents, critics, and rights groups, reflected in the media.

India turned a blind eye when Hasina ensured that no opposition contested elections and held sham elections in 2014, 2018, and 2024, according to independent election monitoring groups, reported in mainstream media. Obviously, India was always the first country to felicitate Hasina for being reelected in landslide victories, with full knowledge that the elections were fraudulent and were not free, fair, and inclusive.

When Hasina was elected for her fifth term through vote fraud, Modi did not hesitate to congratulate and shower blessings on her in January 2024. Several political scientists and political historians predicted that she would not be able to survive for another six months after the 2024 election. South Block was not reading the pulse of the people, who were bearing the brunt of the repressive regime.

Independent media, civil society, and rights groups had been beeping alarms over Hasina’s autocratic regime, which was monitored in Delhi – but largely disregarded. Sohani wrote in ORF that the Indian government gave lots of priority to the bonds of partnership with the former Awami League administration in Bangladesh, led by Sheikh Hasina.

Not only was this exhibited by their expanding portfolio of areas of cooperation, ranging from connectivity, security, to collaboration in public health, but also by their ability to continue nurturing bilateral ties in several domains, despite lingering contentious issues such as the Teesta Water sharing dispute, border killings of Bangladesh nationals, lopsided trade deficit, human trafficking, stop Hasina addressing on social media, which Dhaka interprets as jeopardizing the relations further.

A decade of this partnership had thus ushered in near-permanent amicability in the India-Bangladesh relationship, providing a strong foundation for New Delhi’s aspirations to ‘Act East’ by putting its ‘Neighborhood First’, stated Sohani. The overthrow of Hasina from power abruptly halted this partnership. Bangladesh’s new government’s foreign policy reflects uncertainty about India amidst struggles to secure its own legitimacy.

Both neighbors are suspicious, lack trust, and shed doubts on each other’s relationship. This has been further heightened by Indian Godi media disseminating anti-Bangladesh rhetoric. “Godi media” coined by Indian journalist Ravish Kumar, which describes the Indian media that are overtly biased and loyal to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. The term comes from the Hindi word “godi,” meaning “lap,” and refers to the media’s sycophantic, “lapdog” behavior towards the government.

Apparently, India is the second-largest trading partner, one of the top 15 sources of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), and a foremost development partner with a development portfolio of US$8 billion, says ORF. As India’s Minister for External Affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in a recent statement, “Bangladesh must decide what kind of ties it wants with India.”

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 9 September 2025

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist based in Bangladesh and a media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders. He is the recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and the Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleem.samad.1971@gmail.com>; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Indian Police Crackdown on Muslim Bangla-Speaking Migrants

SALEEM SAMAD

Two impoverished families have been working as scrap pickers for over two decades in the suburb of New Delhi. Both families were detained, transported in harsh conditions, and pushed into Bangladesh in the dark hours. Police in Delhi claimed that they are Bangladeshi citizens and that their ancestors were from a village in the southern district of the country.

The ordeal of the two families surfaced after their families filed cases with the Delhi High Court and Kolkata High Court. The families complained that the Indian authorities do not know of their whereabouts in Bangladesh, and the families do not have any contact with them.

The petition said that last month, Sweety Bibi and her two sons, Korban Sheikh (16 years old) and Imam Sheikh (6 years old) and another family, Sonali Khatun, her husband, Danesh Sheikh and their son Sabbir Sheikh, were abducted, and police said they were deported to Bangladesh as they were Bangladesh citizens.

Later, the West Bengal police collected several documents to prove that the family’s ancestors’ history is from the state of West Bengal and that they are genuine Indian citizens.

A video shot inside Bangladesh, which went viral on social media, showed two women, one teenager and one male, who was seen in the footage. It could not be ascertained where in Bangladesh it was recorded. The woman, Sweety Bibi, described in the video how they were forcibly abducted by police and later pushed into a foreign country and were alleged to be émigrés from Bangladesh.

In the recent spate of crackdown against illegal immigrants, India, when persons speak Bangla (the official language of Bangladesh and also spoken in neighboring states of West Bengal and Tripura) and are Muslim, that person, in the eyes of the police, is a potential demographic threat to the country’s security. The authorities jump to the conclusion that the suspects are “illegal immigrants” from Bangladesh.

All over India, such suspects in thousands were hauled and taken to different concentration camps. The detained persons are enduring untold miseries, agony and sufferings. They are tortured by law enforcement agencies. The encampments have poor sanitation, no running water and inadequate food.

Indian press, which habitually barks anti-Bangladesh rhetoric, hardly reported the incidents of the harassment and illegal confinement of Indian citizens, bracketed as “unauthorized immigrants” from Bangladesh. Most of them live in shanty slums and work as menial workers and have migrated from different places for a better future and financial solvency.

According to international media and rights organizations, they have been critical of such government-induced crackdown against the working class in India. Most do not have proper documents to prove their identity. Even though they had valid citizenship documents, they had those confiscated and were told that the documents were counterfeit.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based organization, said India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between 7 May and 15 June, quoting Bangladeshi authorities. The police, while detaining the suspects, speak of harrowing tales of being robbed of their cash and valuables, the poor people possessed. For the detained Muslims, the sky seems to have fallen over their head.

India is one of the few South Asia countries where secularism, equality and rights of citizens are guaranteed in the state constitution, but the government and law enforcement authorities are flouting the law with impunity during the arbitrary crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The suspects are forcibly boarded on a train or trucks and brought near the India-Bangladesh border. They are pushed through porous borders into Bangladesh. Such “push-in” as it is popularly said on both sides of the border has become a regular phenomenon of the Indian Border Security Forces (BSF).

Bangladesh is encircled by India on three sides by land, and has seen relations with New Delhi turn icy since a mass uprising in August last year toppled the autocratic government of Sheikh Hasina, an ally of India, who is living in exile somewhere in New Delhi.

Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly communicated with the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to abide by international laws for deporting illegal immigrants. The standard procedure would be to produce a list of names, photos, addresses in Bangladesh, and documents to prove they are from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh authorities would verify their citizenship and decide who could be sent back. Meanwhile, some Arab countries, Malaysia, South Korea, the United States and other countries have provided documents of those deported for illegally staying in their country and are undocumented. They are listed when their work permit and visas expired long ago, or they were involved in heinous crimes and given long-term prison sentences. The criminals are sent back to serve the rest of their imprisonment tenure in their home country.

Political historian and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad aptly said thousands of senior and junior leaders of Awami League, which ruled Bangladesh for more than 15 years, have fled to India, but they are not arrested for illegally crossing the border to India without valid travel documents.

The Indian government has kept its eyes closed to exiled politicians. The political leaders are mostly living in Kolkata and New Delhi at the behest of the Indian authorities. The majority of the Awami League leaders are Muslims and speak Bangla, but they are exempted from the crackdown, Ahmad remarked.

South Block in New Delhi remains silent over the pressing issue. Every week, the Indian border police are pushing so-called unauthorized immigrants into Bangladesh. The Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) is not at all informed of the push-in. The operation is secretly conducted and in the cover of darkness by the BSF.

Despite the arbitrary deportation of “illegal immigrants” including Indian citizens, embargo on exports to India, moratorium on visas for Bangladesh nationals, and other pressing issues, Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain last week reiterated that the interim government always wanted a good working relationship with India based on reciprocity and mutual respect. Our (Bangladesh) position remains unchanged,” Hossain said, noting that no one from the interim government ever said they do not want good relations with India.

Meanwhile, HRW in a strongly worded statement recently said India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bangla-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines.

The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hard-line stance on immigration, particularly those from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh, with top authorities referring to them as “termites” and “infiltrators”.

The crackdown has sparked fear among India’s estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among those speaking Bangla, the HRW statement said. “India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bangla-speaking Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director of HRW.

“The Indian government is putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk in apparent pursuit of unauthorized immigrants, but their actions reflect broader discriminatory policies against Muslims.” India has also been accused of forcibly deporting Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, with navy ships dropping them off the coast of the war-torn nation.

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 29 July 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders. Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@gmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Bangladesh’s “Mango Diplomacy” to Sweeten Relations With India

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladeshi authorities are aware that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a strict vegan, but he has a particular fondness for mangoes. Modi has a craving for mangoes of Bengal (now a territory of Bangladesh). He cuts mangoes himself when he consumes them as dessert. He once told an actor when the celebrity asked how he ate mangoes.

The Chief Adviser of the Interim Government, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, sent 1,000 kilograms (approximately one ton) of the most delicious mango variety, “Haribhanga,” to New Delhi last week.

The mangoes are expected to be shared with dignitaries from the Indian Prime Minister’s Office, diplomats, and other officials within the next couple of days as part of a friendly exchange between the two neighboring countries, wrote a private news service, United News of Bangladesh (UNB).

Yunus’ government has initiated ‘mango diplomacy’ with India, weeks after the Foreign Ministry said New Delhi was willing to discuss all issues with Dhaka in a “conducive” environment. Yunus has also sent 300 kg of mangoes each to the neighboring states of West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tripura’s Chief Minister Manik Saha.

Bangladesh has a long-standing tradition of sending seasonal gifts, particularly mangoes, to the Indian PM and state leaders to reinforce cultural ties and regional diplomacy. This form of extending a gesture, often referred to as “mango diplomacy,” was also practiced under the previous administration of Sheikh Hasina, and it continues to serve as a symbol of goodwill and exchange, reports The Times of India.

Will the mango diplomacy likely thaw the strained relations after Delhi’s all-weather friend, Sheikh Hasina, was toppled and she sought refuge in a secure location, possibly in Delhi? The question among diplomatic circles is whether the mango diplomacy will reinforce cultural ties and regional diplomacy. Most of the observers are sceptical about the outcome of the bilateral talks.

Modi and Yunus last met in April on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, their first face-to-face meeting since the collapse of Bangladesh’s former autocratic regime. Prime Minister Modi reiterated India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive, and inclusive Bangladesh. He also underlined that India believed in a people-centric approach to the relationship, and highlighted the cooperation between the two countries over a long period of time that has delivered tangible benefits to people in both countries.

The practice of sending mangoes has existed since previous regimes. But the relations between Dhaka and New Delhi have been sour after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted from power last year following massive student-led demonstrations. The Hasina government has close ties with New Delhi.

However, Bangladesh’s new caretaker government chose to court China and Pakistan, fanning regional instability. Beijing has been trying for years to spread its tentacles in the Indian subcontinent. Through arms deals and loans, China is rooting its influence in Pakistan and Bangladesh, aiming to align its interests with Beijing. Amid diplomatic unrest, Bangladesh’s “Mango Diplomacy”, a form of outreach, is seen as Dhaka’s move to sweeten ties with India.

Hours after sheltering Hasina, India has imposed a blanket moratorium on visa services to Bangladeshi nationals. The visa centers are manned by skeleton staff for emergency visa formalities, like healthcare, students studying in India, and those seeking visas for a third country having their visa office in Delhi.

The moratorium has brought the direct train, buses, and border crossing for Bangladesh to several Indian destinations to a standstill. Most flights between cities of Bangladesh and India have been significantly reduced due to the lack of visas. Earlier, thousands of Bangladesh nationals visited India every day for healthcare. Now, everything has almost stopped for the patients for medical checkups and surgery. The hotel occupancy in Kolkata, Bangalore, and Chennai has reached its lowest ebb. Restaurants no longer prepare Halal food in the absence of Bangladeshi customers.

Another category of tourists was on a shopping spree and buying an expensive dress for marriage celebrations. Whereas, Bangladesh missions in Indian capital and cities have continued to issue visas, and Indian journalists receive visas on a fast track. Well, the Agartala (Tripura State) and Kolkata (West Bengal) Bangladesh missions were attacked and vandalised, alleging that Bangladesh is not doing enough to protect the Hindus. The visa section was temporarily closed in fear of further attacks.

Despite repeated assurances from Bangladesh authorities that the perpetrators involved in the attacks on Hindus were arrested and hundreds of others are on the wanted list, the Indian media did not listen to the commitment against sectarian violence. The violence has drastically reduced. However, after a brief lull, the visa section resumed in Kolkata and Agartala’s Bangladesh missions.

In 2023, India hosted approximately 2.12 million tourists from Bangladesh, making them the largest group of foreign tourists visiting India. While Kolkata is a popular destination, other cities like Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur are also frequently visited by Bangladeshi travelers. Additionally, pilgrimage sites like Ajmer Sharif and locations in the Indian northeast, Kashmir, and Ladakh were popular destinations, according to a tourist site.

Ambassador Humayun Kabir explains that the mango diplomacy will not make much headway for a reconciliation very soon. Delhi believes that the conspiracy to overthrow Hasina was masterminded with the help of the United States and China to keep India under pressure in the new geopolitical phenomenon.

Indian conspiracy theory says the USA also brought Nobel laureate Prof Yunus to power after gathering moss under the rolling stone. The conspiratorial power lobbies brought India’s arch rivals, China and Pakistan, closer to Bangladesh. In South Asia, Dhaka angered Delhi when Yunus promised to hold the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, even if India boycotts the event.

India officially boycotted the SAARC Summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in November 2016. On Delhi’s instigation, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Afghanistan declined to participate, citing concerns about regional security and Pakistan’s alleged interference in their internal affairs with India. Since then, SAARC has remained dormant.

Ambassador Kabir understands that Delhi is likely to open a new chapter with Dhaka and develop the bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries, not to a new height. Delhi is waiting for the Yunus government to come to an end. A new political government will take responsibility after the much-hyped election scheduled in February next year. Let’s wait and see how Delhi reacts to the new political government, which overtly wants to develop friendship with China and wants Beijing to support their relationship.

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 21 July 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@gmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Is ULFA Separatist Still a Threat to Northeast India’s Sovereignty?

SALEEM SAMAD

The United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), once the fiercest militants, had caused havoc in Assam, in Northeast India bordering Bangladesh. In the 1980s and 1990s, India was torn apart by a separatist movement by radicalised militants of Nagaland, Manipur, and Tripura, all bordering Bangladesh. The civil war caused deaths and forced migration for tens of thousands. Many more lost their near and dear ones in the insurrections. Thousands were victims of arbitrary detention, torture and false terrorism cases by state security agencies, while thousands more languished in prisons for years.

India blamed Bangladesh for providing shelter to separatist leaders, training camps, weapons and logistics. Dhaka was often blamed, and India claimed to have provided evidence for inciting the rebellions in the Northeast. Bangladesh, since 1975, has had military governments which were apparently hostile to India. Delhi also accused Dhaka of aiding, abetting and cross-border terrorism to separatist groups in Northeast Indian pursuing different approaches to self-determination, greater political autonomy and independence of their landlocked territory.

The other militant groups are the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN); the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB); Manipuri separatist groups, including the factions of People’s Liberation Army of Manipur (PLAM) and Tripura separatist groups, the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) and All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF).

Last week, a faction of the ULFA-Independent’s hideout in the dense hill forest of the Myanmar-China border was pounded with drone and missile attacks. ULFA-I has accused the Indian army of killing its leaders in the Myanmar camp of launching drone and missile strikes on its camps in Myanmar’s Sagaing Region, claiming the attacks killed three senior leaders and injured dozens.

The group claimed that Lieutenant General Nayan Medhi (alias Nayan Asom), a key strategist, was killed in an initial drone strike. Subsequent missile attacks, allegedly during Nayan Asom’s funeral, reportedly killed Brigadier Ganesh Lahon (alias Ganesh Asom) and Colonel Pradip Gogoi (alias Pradip Asom), with 19 cadres injured and several civilians wounded.

The Indian Army, however, has denied any involvement, raising questions about the veracity of the claims and the dynamics of insurgent activity along the volatile India-Myanmar border, French news agency AFP and Indian TV Zee News reported. Instead, the Indian security establishment has claimed that several heavily armed battle-hardened ethnic rebels of Myanmar were behind the attack on the Paresh Baruah camps.

In a series of statements, ULFA-I alleged that over 150 drones, reportedly of Israeli and French origin, targeted its Eastern Command Headquarters (ECHQ) in at least three sites shortly after midnight on July 14, the separatist group claimed. Paresh Baruah, the supremo of ULFA-I, condemned the strikes and vowed retaliation, alleging that the Myanmar Army was aware of the operation in advance.

The Indian Army swiftly rejected ULFA-I’s claims. Lieutenant Colonel Mahendra Rawat, PRO of the Defence Guwahati, told the media, “There are no inputs with the Indian Army on such an operation.” ULFA-I, a hard-line faction, was formed in 2012 by Paresh Baruah, formerly the military commander of the unified ULFA in the 1990s. He was a football player and was very popular as the goalkeeper of the Assam team.

During the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, he was a young volunteer in refugee camps in Assam. During his volunteer tenure, he befriended several political and student leaders in exile in India. He also developed rapport with the Mukti Bahini officers, who defected from the Pakistan Army. When ULFA was formed in April 1979, Paresh Baruah liaised between the rogue Bangladesh Army officers, who had mostly served with the Mukti Bahini. He was able to negotiate with top brass in the Bangladeshi military.

Bangladesh’s spy agency, DGFI (Director General of Forces Intelligence), was deployed to provide logistics to ULFA. It was claimed in some documents that the DGFI was able to convince the Pakistan spy agency ISI, and also able to contact the Chinese Communist Party to extend military help.

The separatists intermittently received cargoes of Chinese-made AK-47s from several clandestine arms factories in South Asian countries. They were given light weapons, wireless equipment, explosives, and counterattack arsenals. Which is good enough to keep the Indian Army, the ruthless paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and other security forces at bay.

It’s undeniable that ULFA leaders operated from covert headquarters in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka and were protected by the state security agency in that period. This was disclosed by the ULFA chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa, in his biography after he quit the armed struggle and made peace with Indian authorities. He is presently living in a safe house in India.

The pro-talks ULFA signed a peace accord with the government in December 2023, and disbanded the militant outfit in January 2024, ending its 44-year hit-and-run guerrilla warfare. His biography depicts his entire security detail, including the minute details of the place where his children were studying in Dhaka.

Several names of security officers of Bangladesh military intelligence, who are now mostly retired or have migrated to the West, are mentioned in his biography. His biography even details how he, along with his comrades, was extradited to India by Bangladesh authorities. Indian media, however, had published and claimed that they were captured from the Bangladesh-Indian border, since their camps were mostly on the Assam-Bangladesh border. A local reporter exploring the northeast border with Assam and Arunachal had found several shelters of ULFA militants inside Bangladesh territory.

Similar forced deportations were carried out with the leaders of NLTF, NSCN, NDFB, PLAM and ATTF as their camps were dismantled, and they were forced to leave the territory in the first few years after Hasina returned to power in 2009. However, in 1986, when Sheikh Hasina became the prime minister, she failed to deport the separatist leaders due to the intransigent attitude of some powerful military officers and bureaucrats.

During the government of Begum Khaleda Zia (2001-2006), her party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), a close associate, moved the Home Affairs Ministry and the court of law to provide political asylum to the separatist leaders instead of deporting them to India.

The splinter group ULFA (I) has rejected peace talks, demands Assam’s sovereignty and vows to continue the armed struggle, while the mainstream ULFA, led by Arabinda Rajkhowa, has signed a peace accord in December 2023 with Delhi. The militant outfit was disbanded in January 2024, ending its 44-year hit-and-run guerrilla tactics. Baruah-led militant outfit, which operates from Myanmar soil and refers to the Indian Army as “colonial occupational forces”. Insurgent outfits of the Northeast have had a presence in Myanmar since the late eighties, taking advantage of the porous border and the ongoing ethnic conflict there.

Indian security agencies have repeatedly expressed concern over the use of Myanmar territory by militants for hit-and-run attacks in the Northeast. There have been instances of reported Indian military action against militants across the border on several occasions.

The Myanmar authorities are mum about the recent reported strikes by India, which either depicts a tacit nod by Yangon or an indifference due to their multiple troubles at home.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 16 July 2025 

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders. Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

Bangladesh on The Election Train!

SALEEM SAMAD

After 18 months, the nation will go for an election in February 2026. Since the Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus took charge of the Interim Government last August, he faced several hiccups in running the administration. One of the challenges he faced was when his government announced a road map for a free, fair, and credible election. In this election, people would be able to express their wish to elect a party that would form a legitimate political government.

The other challenge was stabilizing the situation of law and order. Most of the police forces have fled their ranks in fear of retaliation by protesters for killing thousands of students and protesters. The understaffed police forces are inadequate to restore law and order in the country.

However, law enforcement has been supplemented by the Bangladesh Army in every city and town. Initiate the trial of leaders of Awami League, including former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, for crimes against humanity for ordering to opening fire upon thousands of protesters.

During the bloody July-August anti-government street protests known as the Monsoon Revolution, Hasina was forced to quit and flee to India, where she is living in exile for the second time in her political career. Meanwhile, in a typical political development, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP’s) supremo Tarique Rahman, acting Chairman, held a parley with visiting Prof Yunus in London, where he was living in exile.

The hour-long parley thawed a couple of crucial political discontentment with the new government. Yunus repeatedly said the election should be held before June next year. But BNP, a rightist democratic party, demanded that the election be held at the end of December. Or else there will political and economic crisis, which may cause a law and order situation.

Yunus is determined that the election should be held after the crucial reforms are agreed upon with the political parties. However, BNP and its like-minded fringe politics did not give any specific reason for demanding the election to be held at the end of this year. Political circles said that the high school final exam, the month of fasting in Ramadan from mid-February, Eid ul Fitr in mid-March 2026, the advent of monsoon, etc., were not favorable for a general election.

Earlier on the eve of Eid ul-Adha, Yunus announced that the election would be held in April 2026. Well, the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami’s chief, Dr. Shafiqur Rahman, has said the chief advisor’s announcement has reassured the nation of the transition to democracy. The National Citizens’ Party (NCP) stated that steps should be taken to implement the July Charter (Monsoon Revolution), and the proposed reforms; they have no objection to elections being held within the announced timeframe.

BNP rejected the election announcement and declared street protests against the government to hold polls by the end of December. BNP supremo Rahman, after the parley in London, agreed that the deadline for the political parties to commit to the reforms in the judiciary, the election commission, the bureaucracy, police administration, the anti-corruption commission, and others.

Yunus wants the political parties to agree to the reform proposals to ensure transparency, accountability, and public social responsibility of elected leaders. The politicians to keep their party supporters loyal to them, and ensure that the henchmen enjoy impunity for the crimes, they need to influence the police, judiciary, and civil administration.

Therefore, it is understood that the politicians oppose reforms. They have been arguing that the Interim Government does not have the jurisdiction to conduct any reforms. Like the howls of jackals, the parties want the elected parliament should endorse the reforms and make them public laws for the benefit of the people.

Meanwhile, BNP’s high command has refused to ally with Jamaat-e-Islami or any Islamist party. BNP is confident that it will win the majority to form a government. BNP also has also problem with the newly formed King’s party – the National Citizens Party (NCP) by the student leaders who have spearheaded the Monsoon Revolution, which toppled the iron lady Hasina last August.

The NCP blames BNP’s inherent weakness for failing to topple the autocratic regime, which ruled Bangladesh for more than 15 years. Hasina intermittently hunted and haunted the opposition. Her government arrested tens of thousands of BNP leaders, activists and supporters and threw them in prisons on terrorism charges, damaging government properties, and attacking police.

BNP and other opposition leaders were immobilized. The opposition was neutralized after several brutal crackdowns by the law enforcement agencies and henchmen of the ruling Awami League. The opposition was unable to organize effective anti-government street protests to block the elections, which were boycotted.

The elections of 2014, 2018, and 2024 were held sans the opposition and the poll results were doctored, according to national and international election observers, which echoed the media coverage of the election ballot box stuffing, henchmen taking possession of polling stations, and widespread vote buying.

Hasina never bothered to hold free, fair, and inclusive elections. She deliberately ignored the media feedback, human rights organizations’ statements, and the poll observers’ report. She took the senior journalists into her confidence with lucrative benefits. She split the journalists’ union among pro-government loyalists and pushed others to join the opposition union.

Hundreds of journalists faced legal harassment, intimidation and were jailed under repressive cybercrime laws. The draconian cyber laws targeted opposition, critics, dissidents and especially the “delinquent” journalists who refused to be loyal to Hasina.

The media landscape has changed. Most media cannot publish/broadcast news, which hurts the feelings of the student leaders of NCP. Often, they barge into the newsroom when they are dissatisfied with certain news outlets critiquing their source of funding for holding massive rallies and a lavish lifestyle.

In most cases, they intimidate news organizations to delete the story or headlines that are deemed inappropriate and tarnish their image as revolutionaries. Scores of journalists were terminated or asked to resign in the face of the NCP’s threats. They forced the National Press Club in Dhaka to cancel more than a hundred veteran journalists and senior members of the club.

Dr Rakib Al Hasan, Executive Director of the Center for Partnership Initiative, a research office, said NCP failed to gather moss from rolling stones. The new party does not believe in pluralism and secularism. They have been engaged in witch-hunting against professionals, and bureaucrats, including journalists, professors of state universities, and teachers of several educational institutions.

The television and stage actors were banned from shows. Several of the plays were postponed until the drama producers got rid of the actors. The student leaders have lost credibility among the mainstream journalists, intellectuals, and the military hierarchy, which still remains steadfast behind Prof Yunus, remarked Hasan.

What is disliked by the sympathizers of student leaders for appeasing Jamaat-e-Islami and other radicalized Islamic groups, who are cut off from the masses, said the young researcher.

It will be difficult for NCP to muster the support of the millions who also joined the Monsoon Revolution to vote for them in the upcoming election, which is now scheduled to be held eight months from now, predicts the private research organization.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, on 14 June 2025 

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with the Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

ASEAN’s Missed Opportunity for Beleaguered Myanmar

SALEEM SAMAD

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) once again failed Myanmar at the summit in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 27 May 2025 with a “Peace Formula”, when the country plunged into a bloody civil war with “revolutionary” armed ethnic groups.

ASEAN is an intergovernmental organization of ten Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Host Malaysia, as the current chairman of ASEAN, delivered a meaningless statement on Myanmar and offered no new approaches to dealing with the crisis in the country, which has been beleaguered by a military dictatorship since 2021.

Instead of dusting off their hands, the summit offered a toothless Five-Point Consensus (5PC) as a road map for addressing Myanmar’s tribulations. The ethnic rebels are more concerned with holding their ancestral territories and establishing regional autonomy under a constitutional government. None of the rebels has a military plan to capture Myanmar’s capital.

To topple the military regime in Naypyidaw and form a national democratic government, the rebel groups have placed the responsibility upon the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile under the political inspiration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ousted leader is presently serving jail terms on charges of sedition.

Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, is besieged by ethnic rebels who have taken two-thirds of the country from the military junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled Myanmar as the State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman since seizing power in the February 2021 coup d’état. In July 2024, he wore presidential robes in July 2024.

To the Myanmarese, the obsession with the failed peace plan is beyond frustrating. They simply can’t help wondering why ASEAN leaders remain so delusional when it comes to this “consensus”, which has delivered nothing for Myanmar.

Since ASEAN adopted the 5PC in 2021, the junta has never honoured it. First and foremost, the consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar. This step has never been implemented by the junta. Instead of ending military rule, the regime has rained bombs on its citizens and blocked essential supplies, including healthcare facilities, not to mention the continued atrocities like arson and massacres.

Over the past four years, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by the military, including children, prompting the UN early this year to say that the junta had ramped up its violence against civilians to a level that was unprecedented in the four years since the generals launched their coup.

Rather than taking the junta’s total disregard for its plan as a blatant insult, ASEAN’s leadership doggedly clings to the 5PC as its “main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar,” writes Hpone Myat in anti-establishment news portal The Irrawaddy. The news organization Irrawaddy, named after a yawning river in Myanmar, operates in exile in a neighbouring country for the safety and security of its staff.

Myanmar has become the most dangerous place for journalists after the recent sentencing of Than Htike Myint to five years in jail under Myanmar’s Counter Terrorism Law on 3 April. The military was holding 55 journalists in detention in June 2024, according to a report by the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL).

ASEAN’s continued faith in the 5PC in the face of the regime’s repeated intransigence is incomprehensible. In the light of this, the people of Myanmar are not sure whether to praise the bloc for its “consistency” or feel sorry for its naivety in dealing with the most ruthless regime on earth. Apart from the statement, remarks from the bloc’s current chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, were out of context and deliberately did not touch base, as the military junta is sinking into a quicksand.

In April, Anwar met with junta chief Hlaing in Bangkok and held virtual talks with Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) in exile. Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim should not have appeased Min Aung Hlaing, believing in the illusions that the General would restore peace in the country, riddled with civil strife. After a call from the ASEAN meeting in April, Hlaing promised a ceasefire by the Myanmar armed forces, Tatmadaw, and the ethnic rebels. His junta even signed an MOU with some rebels, but that ceasefire was broken within days.

Hlaing’s air force continued to bomb civilian areas, causing immense suffering, pain, and agony for the villagers. At the summit, he (Anwar) described those talks as “significant”, saying both sides were open to engagement while highlighting Gen Hlaing’s supposed willingness to engage in peace efforts despite dubbing NUG as a “terrorist organization”.

In his opening remarks to the summit in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar said ASEAN had been able to “move the needle forward” in its efforts to achieve an eventual resolution to the Myanmar crisis, adding that the steps may be small and the bridge may be fragile, but “even a fragile bridge is better than a widening gulf.”

There is not even a “fragile bridge”, given his dishonesty and insincerity. His willingness to engage in peace talks is merely fictional and a hollow promise; Myanmar’s generals have historically never been known for sincerely engaging in peace efforts. They only engage or join dialogue as a pretext to ease external pressures. No such talks have ever borne fruit. Ask any ethnic armed resistance organization or opposition politician in Myanmar, and they will enlighten you as to how historically untrustworthy the previous generals and Min Aung Hlaing are, laments Hpone Myat.

ASEAN members have univocally urged the regime in Naypyidaw to extend a temporary ceasefire and engage in peace talks with its rivals at the summit, but did not spell out a timeline. Instead, the ASEAN urged that negotiations were needed and that Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan would visit Naypyidaw in June regarding the mitigation of the crisis.

Furthermore, the regional leaders’ statement on an extended and expanded ceasefire in Myanmar can only be greeted with dismay. The leaders further called for “the sustained extension and nationwide expansion of the ceasefire in Myanmar,” but the reality is the ceasefire has never existed on the ground, as the junta has consistently violated the truce from the very start, wrote The Irrawaddy.

Instead of being unrealistic about the reality of present-day Myanmar, ASEAN should have adopted a serious resolution against the regime. Such moves would have put pressure on the junta by making it harder for it to survive, but also would have helped move the currently stalled resolution mechanism for Myanmar’s crisis forward. To make that happen, the bloc must first drop its empty rhetoric and take meaningful steps, concludes Hpone Myat.

Last week, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concern over the deteriorating human rights situation and economic collapse in Myanmar, with violent military operations killing more civilians last year than in any year since the 2021 coup. The military operations have sparked an unfolding humanitarian crisis.

“The country has endured an increasingly catastrophic human rights crisis marked by unabated violence and atrocities that have affected every single aspect of life,” said Volker Türk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Myanmar’s economy has lost USD 93.9 billion over the last four years, with inflation surging and the kyat (local currency) losing 40 per cent of its value.

Over half the population now lives below the poverty line, facing food insecurity and soaring prices, which has worsened since the March 28 earthquake, according to the U.N. Possibly, ASEAN has lost all moral position to pressurise the military junta, since Justice for Myanmar accused 54 companies in Southeast Asian countries ASEAN of supplying the regime with funds, jet fuel and technology.

“ASEAN’s failure to address corporate complicity has allowed the [regime] to intensify its brutal campaign of terror that has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions with total impunity,” said Yadanar Maung, spokesperson of Justice for Myanmar, while calling on the leaders of ASEAN to end their support to the regime in Naypyidaw.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 03 June 2025 

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

India’s deport “illegal” Muslims into Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

India is increasing diplomatic pressure on Bangladesh after the Pakistan-India conflict following the Pahalgam massacre of Hindu tourists.

It could not be ascertained whether the Pahalgam issue of unprovoked deportation has any connection with India’s Muslims targeted for speaking Bangla.

Incidentally, the Bangla language is widely spoken by 268 million people in the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and parts of Assam. Bangla is the official state language of Bangladesh.

Indian government, showing no diplomatic niceties, has continued to push out so-called illegal Bangladeshi migrants living in India for decades. They were targeted for two crimes. They are Muslims and they speak Bangla.

Pushed by the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) through several porous borders with barbed-wire fences without any intimation to Bangladesh authorities or the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) in the last couple of weeks.

Nearly 1,053 individuals have been forced into Bangladesh since 7 May, and those pushed in were allegedly tortured and physically abused in India, according to a statement from Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB).

During the journey, they faced physical abuse, religious tropes, and were denied food and water, which was learnt from the victims.

Bangladesh pointed its fingers towards the Indian BSF for border abuse. India did not clarify the unprovoked push-in, nor did Delhi bother to inform the Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Indian border guards had pushed out several Indian nationals who are Muslims in the bordering Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, and Tripura. Many of the victims pushed into Bangladesh were living in various places in India.

They have been targeted because they have Muslim names and speak Bangla, thus they are potential targets of being “illegal” migrants.

The Indian authorities did not hesitate to coerce Indian nationals to admit they were from Bangladesh. Also, admit that they have families and relatives in this country.

This cruel issue came to the limelight after a lawyer filed a petition in the Assam state capital, Guwahati’s High Court, that two brothers, Abu Bokkor Siddique and Akbar Ali, were forcibly pushed into Bangladesh by BSF along with 14 others.

The lawyer said they were detained on 25 May and refused to provide the location where the brothers were detained. He argued that they were born in Assam, and everybody in their locality knew them as school teachers.

He sought an order by the High Court to locate the whereabouts of the missing brothers.

An Indian human rights organization, Citizens for Justice and Peace, accused law enforcement agencies of randomly detaining people with Muslim names and who speak Bangla from places in Assam State.

The Assam High Court asked the State government to inform the court of the whereabouts of the two brothers.

It would be an embarrassment for BSF to rescue the brothers from Bangladesh when they will have to admit that they were mistakenly deported and want them to be returned to the Indian authorities.

However, BSF never admitted that they had unofficially deported hundreds of “Bangladesh nationals” detained from various States of India.

“BGB remains on high alert and has intensified surveillance and patrols in sensitive border areas. However, during recent engagements, the neighboring authorities denied any such push-ins—denials that contradict facts and constitute both a violation of human rights and glaring falsehoods,” the senior official of BGB said.

A Bangladeshi woman alleged that BSF tied empty plastic bottles to her and her three daughters to keep them afloat, then pushed them into the Feni river along the Tripura border in the dark of night, in a chilling account of abuse at the border, as reported in the Daily Star, an independent daily.

Selina Begum, 41, said she and her three daughters floated in the water all night before being rescued by locals in Khagrachhari on 22 May.

“My children had no idea what was happening. We floated all night. None of us knows how to swim,” she lamented.

The family members said they were working as laborers in Haryana when Indian authorities detained them.

After holding them overnight, the authorities drove them to the border, robbed them of their money and phones, and then pushed them into the river.

What happened to this family is not an isolated case. Several Bangladeshi nationals have alleged that Indian authorities tortured the deportees before pushing them across the border.

A 45-year-old woman said she had been living in India for 10 years. On 10 May, she and her husband were detained and taken to a Delhi police station along with 46 others.

“They kept us in custody for the next three days without food or water. Then they drove us to the border and pushed us across the fence around 3:00 am,” said the sobbing woman.

Maj Gen Mohammad Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui, director general of BGB, told The Daily Star that despite repeated protests conveyed through flag meetings and diplomatic channels, incidents of push-ins by BSF and other Indian agencies have regrettably continued.

Siddiqui noted that many of those pushed back were Bangladeshi nationals who had lived in India for years. Some of their children were born in India and held Indian documents, which were forcibly taken from them, he said.

“We have consistently stressed that such unilateral actions violate established repatriation procedures and bilateral norms. BGB continues to urge transparent, verifiable processes to address these cases in line with international standards,” he added.

Amid such illegal deportations, the BGB has ramped up patrols and heightened vigilance along the borders.

Amid troubled news on 7 May, five United Nations Refugee Agency – UNHCR (India) registered Rohingya Muslim refugees (who fled genocide in Myanmar) were also pushed in through the border after being forcibly relocated.

The five Rohingyas registered with UNHCR in India were detained by a BGB on 7 May near the border in northern Bangladesh. The border guards recovered from them UNHCR registration cards issued by the refugee agency’s New Delhi office.

The members of a Rohingya family said they fled Myanmar two years ago and had been living in a camp in Assam. Rohingya are Muslims, but they do not speak Bangla.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry has called on India to immediately stop the recent influx of people across the border, warning that such actions pose risks to security and undermine mutual understanding.

In a letter sent on 8 May, the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised concern over people being pushed into the country and urged New Delhi to adhere to established repatriation mechanisms, citing people with knowledge of proceedings.

The foreign ministry’s letter cautioned that such actions could jeopardize security and incite negative public sentiment.

The deportation violates existing bilateral frameworks, including the 1975 India-Bangladesh joint guidelines for border authorities, the 2011 Coordinated Border Management Plan (CBMP), and decisions made during director general-level talks between the BGB and BSF, according to a foreign ministry official.

The letter reiterated that Bangladesh would only accept individuals confirmed as Bangladeshi citizens and repatriated through official channels. Any deviation from this would harm mutual understanding between the two countries.

It also argued that any Rohingya individuals found within Indian territory should be returned to Myanmar, their country of origin, not to Bangladesh.

“For the sake of peace and stability along the Bangladesh–India border, such push-ins are unacceptable and should be avoided,” the letter said.

Dhaka further called for enhanced coordination between the Bangladesh and Indian border forces to prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

India has not responded to the letter of concern to Bangladesh about the forcible deportation of Bangla-speaking Muslims.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 31 May 2025

Saleem Samad is an award-winning independent journalist based in Bangladesh. A media rights defender with Reporters Without Borders (@RSF_inter). Recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad