India Irks Bangladesh for Extension of Visa to Sheikh Hasina

SALEEM SAMAD

India seems to have deliberately extended the visa of Sheikh Hasina, to a former democratically elected autocratic prime minister to stay comfy at a two-room safe house in a military base at Delhi.

A reputed Delhi-based Hindustan Times writes that extending the visa for another six months is unprecedented. This has annoyed the five-month-old Interim Government of Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus.

The news was another dent amid growing tension between the two countries after the fall of Hasina in early August last year. She fled to India after a bloody student uprising. India seems uncomfortable providing asylum and its relationship with neighboring countries has turned from sweet to sour.

Officials close to the Chief Advisor’s (Yunus) office said they did not expect but were not surprised that Delhi offered Hasina to live in exile, amid a call for her extradition.

Dhaka has officially asked Delhi through diplomatic channels to extradite Hasina to face the music of justice for committing crimes against humanity. She has been accused of ordering law enforcement to shoot and kill unarmed students and protesters during the bloody Monsoon Revolution last year July-August.

The gesture confirms that India is unwilling to extradite Hasina. Indian media is harping that she is unlikely to get a fair trial if she stands on the dock for crimes of putting to deaths of hundreds of protesters.

An official, who requested to remain anonymous, as the person is not authorized to speak to journalists, said the latest decision to extend the visa gives a strong message.

The message was loud and clear that India does not wish to normalize the bilateral relations with its neighbor, which has a shared history of and common heritage originating from the Bengal (West Bengal became an Indian state and East Bengal became Bangladesh) region, linguistic and cultural ties, passion for music, literature and the arts.

The half a century of trade, commerce, regional infrastructure development, transit, and people-to-people contacts will fall flat. The gesture confirms that India is unwilling to extradite Hasina.

Unfortunately, India could not reconcile the fact that Hasina is no longer at the helm of Bangladesh's affairs. Political observers here argue that South Block in New Delhi foolishly kept all its eggs in Hasina's basket. Such actions contradict ancient India’s visionary strategist Chanakya’s wisdom on war and peace with the neighboring states.

Political stalwarts among the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) do not believe that Hasina is a ‘spent fuel’ and cannot be replenished or recharged to lead the new population of 51 million Gen-Z in a country of 174 million.

Thousands of Gen-Z, students from college and university students in the capital and countryside sparked the revolt which forced the Awami League despots from power to crumble.

The opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), despite several attempts to unseat Hasina through violent anti-government movements in the last 15 years, miserably failed. They could not dent the invincible Hasina regime.

Delhi failed to acknowledge the Monsoon Revolution which killed more than a thousand students and protesters in police firing and armed vigilantes recruited from Awami League’s student and youth organizations which clashed with students on the educational campuses.

Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said he has a feeling if Hasina is brought back from India, the country will plunge into chaos and the distraught Interim Government will be overwhelmed.

Thousands of students and protesters would march the streets of the capital and elsewhere demanding Hasina to be punished immediately. Many journalists covering politics echoed with Ahmad that the presence of Hasina in the safest custody would turn into political pressure for the Yunus administration.

India despite being the largest functional democratic nation, accepted Hasina’s flawed elections in 2014, 2018 and 2024 sans the participation of the mainstream opposition.

Delhi was conspicuously silent when appalling human rights violations were being committed, including extra-judicial deaths, enforced disappearances and confinement of political opposition, critics and dissidents in secret prisons by security agencies.

With credible investigations, the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have exposed the dark era of Hasina’s regime. It was picked up by international media, including several independent Indian media. The political language of India did not change.

The media was another soft sector and was throttled by draconian cybercrime laws. Many journalists were arrested and tortured which was reported by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Hasina’s government refused to probe into the allegations of enforced disappearance, secret prisons and extra-judicial deaths after several requests by the United Nations, European Union and other Western countries.

The former government instead blamed the BNP and Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami for orchestrating the propaganda to tarnish the image of her regime. All through her tyrannical rule, India never raised questions nor was Hasina given any advice to act as a benevolent dictator.

Earlier, Prof Yunus urged India to ensure that Hasina remains quiet and not give sermons through social media which is being amplified by her loyalists living in the West. First ever India-Bangladesh Foreign Secretary-level meeting was held at Dhaka, which is believed to have melted some ice.

Prof Yunus and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will likely meet in November on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) summit in Thailand.

BIMSTEC is India's brainchild to avoid SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) and bypass Pakistan for regional cooperation.

Until Yunus meets Modi at the end of the year nothing tangible could be achieved from the biggest neighbor India on bilateral relations and regional cooperation.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 09 January 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

Who Will Bell The Cat Of City Corporation?

Green and blue bins are mosquito breeding farms

SALEEM SAMAD

In 1978, the Bangladesh capital gained status as Dhaka Municipality Corporation, and in 1990, it became Dhaka City Corporation.

The first elected chairman was Ananda Chandra Roy. Before that, a Committee for the Improvement of Dacca (now Dhaka) was formed in 1823.

Since the 19th century, the crowded city has never stopped “improvement”, infrastructure development and beautification projects.

When we were attending schools in the 50 and 60s, Dhaka was indeed a loveable city. The city was neat and clean, like the present Rajshahi metropolitan city in northern Bangladesh. Literally a green city!

Like Rajshahi, Dhaka city was also tidy. There was discipline in traffic movement and streets, and lanes had enough street lights, where young people used to hang out sipping tea and smoking.

There were only four traffic lights. One at Sadarghat, Jinnah Avenue (now Banganadhu Avenue), Shahbagh roundabout and at New Market at Nilket.

The buses plied on time. The bus fares were fixed and quarrelling with passengers and ticket collectors (or conductors) was very rare. All passengers received a bus ticket upon payment of the bus fare.

The huge American-made Chevrolet yellow and black coloured taxi and three-wheeler auto-rickshaw (often called baby taxi) had fare meters and usually never charged extra nor cheated the passengers.

Presently the city corporation is divided in north and south. Thus, Dhaka is fortunate to have two high-profile mayors and there seems no coordination among the twin city corporation administrations. They implement dozens of ad hoc development projects under separate contractors, which is not in our discussion here.

When the Mayor moves in the city, scores of bikers accompany the SUV vehicle, as if escorting a VIP through a “troubled city”, like in Port of Prince, the capital of Haiti, where armed gangs dominate. The civil administration and law enforcement remain dormant there.

Documenting the history of the growth of the municipality to City Corporation should not take more than a few pages. To write on North and South City Corporations, it will take tons of pages to write about the suffering, pain, agony and frustration of the city dwellers.

Frankly, speaking despite Dhaka being the capital and the largest city in Bangladesh, the megapolis does not have the pomp, grandeur and charm of a capital. Sadly, it has yet to grow from a small city into a cosmopolitan capital.

Well, living in a third-world country, we can at best dream of a metropolis like neighbouring capitals and big cities in South Asia. The residents should not dare to compare Dhaka with cities in the West, Southeast Asia or even the Gulf countries.

The thematic issue of this article, promises not to bring the entire gamut of the city father’s roles and responsibilities. The articles will only focus on a particular issue – the trash bins in Dhaka. I want to further narrow it down.

The thousands of morning walkers and revellers at Dhanmondi Lake have recently seen pairs of trash bins have been placed in green and blue.

The blue and green bins placed every 100 yards for the use of walkers and revellers in the park surrounding the lake, indeed it got a new facelift.

Ten years ago, the park had dozens of green bins with lids fixed in concrete bases.

Those bins were damaged not by walkers, but by park cleaners. They dump tree leaves in the bin and set it on fire, which severely damaged the bins for use.

I may sound cynical like an argumentative resident, but my debate is elsewhere.

The bins placed on the several kilometres of the walkway in the park lack a few pertinent issues which are necessary to discuss.

First, the blue and green bins do have a sign “USE ME”. Of course, pedestrians and walkers should use the bins for throwing rubbish, waste or refuse.

The question is what rubbish they will throw in which bin. There is no advice or any instruction on how to use the blue and green bins.

Of course, smart residents know that blue means to dump recycled refuse, like plastic bottles, glass, tin and paper. While green is for other wastes, food items, kitchen waste, and tissue paper which is not recyclable and will directly go to landfill.

In brief, the green dustbin is used for wet waste and the blue dustbin is used for dry waste.

Did I not mention that there is no instruction on how to use the bins? The most alarming is the bins do have a cover. I mean, the bins are open.

In the monsoon season, with intermittent rain, the bins have become collecting points of rainwater.

There is no hole in the bottom for letting the water release from the bins.

The bins are literally a factory of mosquito larvae.

The morning and evening walkers fear of Aedes mosquito, which is causing havoc all over the country including Dhaka, which is marked by health officials as a Red Zone.

The young and old, men and women, junior and senior citizens are affected by Dengue fever, causing deaths and hospitalisation of tens of thousands.

Obviously, the question could be raised, who will slap a fine against the Dhaka South City Corporation, when the blue and green bins have been placed for farming deadly mosquitoes at a crucial moment when people are scared of the mosquito menace.

It’s City Corporation versus City Corporation! Can we expect the city corporation magistrate to slap fines against the city corporation administration?

First published in The New Times, 27 August 2023

Saleem Samad, is an award-winning independent journalist, media rights defender, a recipient of the Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter @saleemsamad

Need pedestrian-friendly cities to fight coronavirus

Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/Dhaka Tribune

SALEEM SAMAD
When many metropolitan cities worldwide ease lockdown restrictions, some city authorities are closing their roads to vehicles, making bicycle lanes, widening pavements, and handing over parking spaces to eateries and coffee joints.

Meanwhile, neighbouring India plans to make 100 cities more pedestrian-friendly after coronavirus lockdown. The Indian government commits to making its streets and markets more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists as it emerges from one of the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdowns, a move urgently needed to curb pollution and improve liveability.

Bangladesh urban planners and city authorities should give additional effort to make cities more pedestrian-friendly once the coronavirus lockdown is relaxed.

Dhaka cannot be said to be a walkable city. Moving in the city is dangerous for pedestrians. Every day, numerous pedestrians are victims of a road mishap in crazy traffic. A pedestrian has to negotiate several hurdles as if overcoming obstacle course training for security forces.

If this is the scenario of Dhaka, imagine the walkability in the cities of Chattagram, Barishal, Khulna, Rajshahi, Mymensingh, Cumilla, or Sylhet.

As the people of the region are likely to live with the coronavirus and have to abide by health guidelines, hundreds of city dwellers have opted to ride motorbikes and bicycles to maintain social distance. 

The volume of both self-driven modes of transport has been reported to have significantly risen in the streets.

If the pedestrian-friendly city is implemented, the commuters will also incorporate more walking. For sustainable urban living, cities should also promote public transit and bicycle lanes.

If pedestrian-friendly walkways are built, the major shift in urban living will have a positive impact on traffic, dramatically improve air quality, and improve overall health and life quality.

Making safe walkways was never a priority of the city authorities. The authorities prefer roads for the plying of private vehicles, instead of rapid public transport besides the upcoming mass transit metro-rail which will commute from north and south.

When the commuters exit from the metro-rail stations, for short distances, most people will prefer to walk to their work, home, or business. 

Any urban development means construction, which unfortunately does not have transparency and accountability. A safe walkway for pedestrians was also never a high profile program, for which city planners nor the city authorities will get public applause.

The challenges remain that for the city planners and city authorities, policy planning is always anti-poor and biased towards the elite. As if the cities have been built exclusively for the elites and rich.

One visible example is enough to prove the city planners’ bias. There are several kilometres of rickshaw-free roads in the city, but there is not a kilometre where motor vehicles are restricted.

Every time there is a media outcry and street agitation of a vehicle hit and run of a student, the authorities will promptly build a speed-breaker or a foot-over-bridge. 

That’s a quick-fix solution of a problem, instead of a pedestrian-friendly walkway as a solution for road mishaps.

A smart cities program is the need of the hour. The city planners should include stakeholders from street vendors to students, from commuters to city dwellers, for measures like road closures, barricades, and repurposing of parking spaces.

Hopefully, the city planners soon will include Dhaka among the most walkable cities such as New York, Vancouver, and Sydney. 

First published in the Dhaka Tribune, 22 June 2020

Saleem Samad is an independent journalist, media rights defender, recipient of Ashoka Fellowship and Hellman-Hammett Award. He could be reached at saleemsamad@hotmail.com. Twitter @saleemsamad

Why Pakistan skipped IPU Assembly

SALEEM SAMAD

It was predicted that Pakistan would stay away from participating at the ongoing 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in capital Dhaka. Pakistan, on Friday last announced to boycott of the mega parliamentarian assembly, alleging a "malicious propaganda" by Bangladesh, and unfriendly attitude.

The last minute pull-out of 10-member delegation led by Pakistan national assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq was due to participate in the IPU assembly in Dhaka. Further to slay the slain, Pakistan took the issue of Bangladesh observing "Genocide Day" on March 25 to memorialize genocide of three million people and sexual abuse of 400,000 women during the Liberation War in 1971.

Sadiq's statement was not a surprise Bangladesh government. He said the Pakistan national assembly members noted with disappointment the actions and "negative public statements" coming out of Bangladesh despite Pakistan's "restraint and overtures" to the country.

The bilateral relation between the two countries has been in roller-coaster since the independence of Bangladesh and surrender of Pakistan armed forces in eastern front in December 1971.

The boycott of the IPU conference is another sign of strain in Bangladesh-Pakistan ties. The relationship further plummeted when Pakistan has officially protested the sentencing and hanging of Jamaat-e-Islami leaders for war crimes committed during the bloody war in 1971.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government strongly reacted to Pakistan's reactions in regard of the judicial verdicts, which her administration stated tantamount to meddling in internal affairs of Bangladesh and also asked Islamabad to apologize for atrocities committed by marauding Pakistan army during the Liberation War.

However, diplomatic relations between two countries enjoyed best of ties during the two military regimes of General Ziaur Rahman (1975-1981) and General HM Ershad (1982-1990). The bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan had risen and shined during the regimes of Begum Khaleda Zia (1991-1996 and 2001-2005), when dreaded Pakistan spy agency ISI was given legitimacy for covert operation against India.

ISI operatives in a bid to destabilize the north-eastern states, had provided weapons, training and helped money laundering of funds to run the separatist groups, who were engaged in violent actions against the Indian authority. The Pakistan spy agency was also active in raising militant groups from among the Rohingya Muslims to wage war against Myanmar for a separate state.

Since Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2009, her government was able to neutralize the ISI operations in Bangladesh and all the separatist leaders of Indian north-east were deported to India. Once the Pakistan's covert operations were blocked and regular seizure counterfeit Indian currency smuggled into India, Pakistan began tirade against Bangladesh.

Bangladesh also with other South Asian countries including India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan pulled out of the 19th SAARC Summit to be hosted by Pakistan in November 2016, citing incitement in terrorism in the region.

This episode further angered Islamabad and blamed Dhaka taking cue from New Delhi and adopts an anti-Pakistan posture, writes an editorial in a Pakistan newspaper published on April 1.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, quoted in an influential newspaper "Aaj News" expressed grief that "all such dedicated efforts, unfortunately, fell in vain and Pakistan was time and again targeted and maligned…. It was, therefore, decided, with a heavy heart, not to undertake a visit to Bangladesh at this time."

First published in The Asian Age, April 3, 2017

Saleem Samad, an Ashoka Fellow (USA), an award winning journalist and is Special Correspondent, The Asian Age

Defense pact between Bangladesh & India in front row, while Teesta water-sharing takes backstage

SALEEM SAMAD

India eyes a comprehensive defence pact with Bangladesh, while Teesta water-sharing is off the radar during the official visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India's capital New Delhi in early April.

Bangladesh is nervous on the outcome of the India visit, which is expected to further take the bilateral relations to new heights, said a top official of the Ministry of Foreign Ministry on Monday. She is also slated to visit Ajmer to pay homage to Sufi Saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti.

Political hype on the crucial issue of twice postponed the Teesta water-sharing treaty has caused much embarrassment to the government and ruling political allies. For Hasina, inking another sensitive military pact will not be easy to keep afloat in rough weathers, observes former Bangladesh envoy to Delhi Ambassador Liaquat Ali Chowdhury.

The anti-Indian political lobby, both ruling Awami League's arch rivals Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, is likely to make noise to the government's getting closer to India, "but Hasina is not afraid of the wolves", said Chowdhury.

Since Hasina returned to power in 2009, she walked extra miles in addressing India's concerns over north-east India's insurgency and connectivity. Nevertheless, India understands that a military pact with Bangladesh  would be beneficial for the two neighbors.

If the pact comes through, India will offer highest ever credit line for defence cooperation with other friendly counties. Delhi is also willing to commit up to 500 million USD in line of credit for military cooperation with Dhaka, writes Jayanth Jacob in Hindustan Times.

Earlier, India had not given line of credit for defence hardware purchases, a source told The Asian Age. On the other hand, the crucial parleys on the outlines of the defence pact is going on, which comprises training, sale of military hardware and military to military cooperation.

Hindustan Times confirms that the "discussions for a defence pact is progressing and yet to reach a final shape". Unfortunately, Delhi is unable to keep pace with Hasina in reciprocating her political desires from her largest neighbor.

The much-awaited Teesta water-sharing deal and two neighbors to share 54 rivers remains a far-cry. Negotiations on Teesta were on for the past 18 years, Chowdhury noted. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opined for water sharing of all 54 rivers during his maiden visit to Bangladesh two years ago.

The good offices of an elderly politician and President of India Pranab Mukerjee in Delhi are trying to break the ice to resolve the Teesta water sharing issue at a parley between Sheikh Hasina and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been planned.

Bangladesh is confident that she will not return home with empty hands, said a Foreign Office official. The draft agreement prepared by Delhi in 2011 was not signed due to opposition from Mamata, the two sides agreed to share the river's water 50:50, the same as the 1996 Ganges (Padma) water-sharing pact.

First published in The Asian Age, March 21, 2017

Saleem Samad, is an Ashoka Fellow (USA), an award-winning investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. He is Special Correspondent, The Asian Age
Twitter @saleemsamad