India Spreading ‘Fake News’ About Anti-Hindu Violence

SALEEM SAMAD

Bangladesh, like elsewhere, the Hindus are celebrating a weeklong Durga Puja. This is the second Durga Puja celebration since the Interim Government took charge of the helm of affairs of the nation.

Durga Puja is widely celebrated with great enthusiasm, color, festivity, and religious passion by Bangla-speaking Hindu diasporas and in several neighboring Indian states and among those living abroad.

The festival goes beyond religion to promote strength, unity, and community spirit. However, the Puja is not the mainstream religious festival of majoritarian Indians. They celebrate the Diwali festival of lights.

“There is no anti-Hindu violence,” Chief Adviser of the Interim Government Professor Muhammad Yunus said in an interview with veteran journalist Mehdi Hasan for Zeteo news media on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last week.

Bangladesh’s majoritarian population is Sunni Muslims, and the religious minorities make up a small but diverse portion of the population of 9 per cent.

Hindus are the largest minority of 8 per cent, followed by Buddhists and Christians. The country has a tiny population of Shia Muslims, Ahmadiyya Muslims, Baha’is, animists, and atheists. Dismissing the claims as misinformation, Yunus told Hasan, “One of the specialities of India right now is fake news.”

Professor Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist, became the interim head of Bangladesh following the 2024 July Uprising known as Monsoon Revolution that led to the ouster of former fascist Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Mehdi sits down with Yunus in New York, a year after student protesters in his country ousted the repressive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who ruled the 174 million people with an iron hand for more than 15 years.

The Nobel Laureate accuses India of spreading ‘fake news’ about anti-Hindu violence. Delhi often blames the Dhaka authorities for not doing enough to ensure protection and security for the Hindu population, especially the protection of Hindu temples, which Indian authorities claim are being sporadically attacked.

Dhaka avoids pointing fingers at Delhi for persecution, intimidation, and violence by Hindu extremists on Dalits (untouchable community), Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Adivasis (ethnic communities), and others.

In November, around 30,000 Hindus in Bangladesh gathered to protest Yunus’ interim government, demanding protection and security, with Donald Trump even weighing in to call Bangladesh’s treatment of Hindus “barbaric”. “One of the specialities of India right now is fake news,” the Nobel laureate tells Zeteo, before declaiming, “There’s no anti-Hindu violence.”

Once, Murshidabad was the capital of Nawab Sirajuddowla (1756-1757), the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The young Muslim ruler met at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. He was defeated by the British East India Company. His defeat marked the end of the 500-year-long Muslim rule over Bengal.

In the same capital, a pavilion of a Durga Puja at Murshidabad, in a state adjacent to Bangladesh. The goddess Durga has other faces of Prof Yunus as a demon, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and US President Donald Trump as evils. It did not surprise many, the organizers deliberately avoided Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, blamed for atrocities in Gaza.

BBC Bangla was the first to post a visual story of the Puja celebration in Murshidabad, which enraged the netizens and social media users in Bangladesh and the Bangladeshi diasporas abroad. The tension and distrust between the two neighboring countries in South Asia have gone cold. No visible diplomatic initiatives from Dhaka and Delhi to warm up the relations.

In one incident, Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal urged the interim government in Dhaka to “live up to its responsibility” of protecting minorities without “inventing excuses.” MEA protested the claim of vandalism at Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home in Shahzadpur, north of Bangladesh.

Immediately Indian government, Indian political figures, and Hindutva–aligned social media handlers circulated about the vandalism at Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home. Bangladesh Chief Adviser’s Press Wing, after fact-check, debunked the Indian claim and posted a statement on its verified Facebook page.

Without a fact-check, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) expressed concern over the incident. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal claimed that the attack was portrayed as a “systematic Islamist attack” or “terrorist act” against a symbol of Hindu heritage.

MEA spokesperson in his rhetoric on Bangladesh often states: “The attack falls in the broad pattern of systematic attempts made by extremists to erase the symbols of tolerance and eviscerate the syncretic culture and the cultural legacy of Bangladesh.”

Several Indian media outlets have circulated videos claiming that Hindus are being targeted by ‘Islamist forces’ in Bangladesh. Analysts say that while there have been attacks on minorities during the political unrest, the media is exaggerating the scale, says Qatar-based international TV network Al Jazeera.

South Asia witnessed a continuation of religious violence, fake news, and political messaging that mainly targeted Muslim minorities. In India, there were mob attacks, hate speeches by religious leaders, and forced deportations of Muslims to Bangladesh, wrote Mohammed Raihan in The Insighta, an analytical portal.

At the same time, some Indian media were alleged to spread false stories about events in Bangladesh, claiming attacks on Hindus, he wrote inThe Insighta. There is no hide and seek, India has huge discomfort and embarrassment about the political changeover in Bangladesh that took place on 5th August.

Developing events suggest that India considers the changeover as its ‘political defeat in Bangladesh’ and unleashing vengeful plots in hegemonic arrogance to destabilize the country to put back the government of its choice in power, writes Mohammad Abdur Razzak in a secular newspaper, The New Age, published from Dhaka.

Playing the Hindu card, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a message on his X (Twitter) handle, urged the chief adviser to Bangladesh’s interim government few days after Yunus was sworn in August last year to “ensure the safety and protection of the Hindus and all other minorities in Bangladesh”.

According to Indian media outlet The Wire published a short documentary titled “Being Hindu in Bangladesh is Not a Black and White Story,” which tells the personal story of Deepak Kumar Goswami, a well-known actor from Bangladesh who is a Hindu. He talks about what it’s really like to live as a Hindu in a Muslim majority country.

Deepak shows that life in Bangladesh for Hindus isn’t just good or bad – it’s more complex than what some Indian media shows. In the documentary, Deepak criticizes the Indian media for spreading propaganda after Hasina fled to India, questioning whether it truly supports Hindus or serves Hasina’s interests.

He rejects the portrayal of the July 2024 uprising as an Islamist movement, pointing out that Hindus, including himself, also opposed Hasina—a fact ignored by the Indian media.

Another bone of contention is the recent anti-immigrant crackdown in India. The crackdown ensued after the Pahalgam massacre by Islamic militants’ attack on tourists in Indian administered Kashmir.

Hundreds of Muslim migrants are forced into Bangladesh's porous borders. Many were found to be Indian citizens. Their crime, they speak Bangla and, most importantly, Muslims are eligible to the deported.

Indian ‘Godi Media’, within a few days after the fall of Hasina, quoting “reliable sources” inside Bangladesh, claimed a military coup in the country and Prof Yunus’ government is a façade.

When the Godi Media found the conspiracy theory of a military coup narrative is not credible, they quickly changed their claim that the Yunus government is governed by the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami.

Yunus addressed a group of researchers and academicians in New York last week. He flagged a piece of fake news claiming that the Gen Z (youths) who brought about change in Bangladesh are Taliban. “They even said I’m a Taliban too. I don’t have a beard. I just left it at home,” he laughed.

The Nobel laureate is a staunch secularist. The Grameen Bank, which he founded, has beneficiaries of 10.75 million (August 2025), with 97% of them being rural women. He has brought about the empowerment of women and supported them from sinking into poverty.

The person who has worked with millions of women over several decades and even got the rural women in the Grameen Bank as board members, is regularly slammed by the Indian media as being backed by the Islamists, Mullahs, and Muslim radicals. It is indeed a pity, remarked political historian and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad.

First published in Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan

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

Chai-walla tête-à-tête with the inventor of social business

SALEEM SAMAD

News media in Bangladesh and India were agog due to the news that Prof Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Interim Government, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met officially for the first time in a decade on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, on 4 April.

The meeting buried all speculations on the question of ‘to be or not to be’ a tête-à-tête meeting between two neighboring countries, Bangladesh and India. They sat down for a meeting eight months after the change of guards in Bangladesh, after the bloody street protest, which ousted autocrat Sheikh Hasina from power.

The leaders of these two major South Asian countries greeted each other with mutual respect and a shared openness for dialogue. Their 40-minute exchange was candid, productive, and constructive, the Indian official spokesperson said.

Narendra Modi in a Tweet (now X) says: [I met] “Mr. Muhammad Yunus, the Chief Adviser of the interim government of Bangladesh. India remains committed to a constructive and people-centric relationship with Bangladesh. “I reiterated India’s support for peace, stability, inclusivity and democracy in Bangladesh. Discussed measures to prevent illegal border crossings and expressed our serious concern for the safety and well-being of Hindus and other minorities.”

The meeting was supposedly engineered by Pranay Kumar Verma, the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh, who had made it possible for Yunus and Modi to meet face-to-face. Professor Yunus enquired about the status of Bangladesh’s formal request for the extradition of Sheikh Hasina, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh, which remains pending with the Indian government. The journalists were told that Bangladesh reiterated Hasina’s possible extradition plan, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said. “There were talks on Sheikh Hasina’s extradition. Can’t say more on that,” he furthermore added.

Modi was told that Hasina had been making inflammatory remarks and accusations against the interim government of Bangladesh to various media outlets and attempting to destabilize the situation in Bangladesh, which seemed to be an abuse of the hospitality India has extended to her. “We request that the Government of India take appropriate measures to restrain her from continuing to make such incendiary statements while she remains in your country,” his press secretary, Shafiqul Alam stated.

Indian Prime Minister promptly blamed social media for the tensions around Sheikh Hasina’s remarks. However, Modi, in response to Hasina’s issue, stated that “rhetoric that vitiates the environment” is best avoided. One of the things he said in the meeting was that while India had good relations with Sheikh Hasina, “We saw her disrespectful behavior towards you. But we continued to respect and honor you.”

He clarified that India’s attachment is with a country, not with any individuals or political organization. “Our relationship is people-to-people,” Modi told Yunus. What he meant was that India did not pledge loyalty to Awami League only. Although in reality, Delhi has put all its eggs in one basket during 15-years of Hasina’s misrule.

India deliberately avoided mentioning the July-August uprising – Monsoon Revolution when 1,400 students and protesters (figure quoted from OHCHR Fact-Finding Report, February 2025) were killed by law enforcement forces and armed Awami League vigilantes. The UN report notes that the Prime Minister herself had ordered security forces to kill protesters  and specifically instructed them to “arrest the ringleaders, kill them, and hide their bodies.”

Hasina had pathological hatred against the opposition, critics, dissidents, independent journalists, human rights activists and social media users. The journalists, critics, human rights activists and social media influencers were booked under non-bailable charges under repressive cybercrime laws.

India or the Indian media hardly reacted to Hasina’s repressive regime. She ruled the country with an iron hand. This was the reason for rising enforced disappearances, the encampment in secret prisons managed by dreaded security agencies and extra-judicial deaths with impunity.

Public opinion in Bangladesh has turned against India over its decision to provide sanctuary to fugitive Hasina, while the Dhaka courts are waiting to put her on the dock for alleged crimes against humanity during the July-August street protests.

Regarding the official statement of Vikram Misri, it is argued that despite India having a functional democracy for seven decades, Delhi never gave sermons to Hasina to hold an inclusive election in 2014, 2018 and 2024. Instead, the Indian Prime Minister promptly congratulated Hasina for being re-elected to power.

All three elections were flawed. The regime kept tens of thousands languishing in prison until the elections were over, according to election observers and human rights groups. The bilateral relations plunged through the cracks of the fault line after India decided to give political shelter to ousted Sheikh Hasina in August last year.

“PM Modi reiterated India’s support for democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh. He underlined India’s desire to forge a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh. The PM also urged that any rhetoric that vitiates the environment is best avoided,” Misri said.

Modi underlined India’s concerns over the safety and security of minorities, including Hindus in Bangladesh, and expressed his expectation that the Bangladesh government would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating the cases of atrocities committed against them. Responding to Modi’s concern over the condition of minorities in Bangladesh, the Chief Adviser said the reports of attacks on the minorities were hugely inflated and “the bulk of them were fake news”.

Yunus said he has instituted an effective system for monitoring every incident of religious and gender violence in the country, and his government was taking serious actions to stop any occurrence of such incidents. Yunus also raised the issue of border killings and stressed the need of working together to reduce the number of fatalities. “On the border, strict enforcement of the law and prevention of illegal border crossings, especially at night, is necessary for maintaining border security and stability. The bilateral mechanism could meet as appropriate to review and take forward our ties,” reads the Indian press statement. Modi furthermore explained that the Indian border troops opened fire only in self-defense and the fatalities occurred in Indian territories.

The leaders agreed that strict enforcement of the law and prevention of illegal crossings would help to build trust and confidence and to strengthen the relationship between India and Bangladesh. India’s inconsistent stance on border killings has contributed to a rise in anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's Chief Adviser’s Office gave a strong diplomatic message to India and the Indians when a photograph was presented to Modi. The photo is about Narendra Modi presenting a gold medal to Nobel laureate Professor Yunus at the 102nd Indian Science Congress that took place in Mumbai on 3 January 2015. The Indians cannot deny that Modi knew the inventor of social business and micro-credit, which salvaged millions of disadvantaged women from poverty.

Addressing the challenges facing the relationship between the two countries, Professor Yunus said, “Excellency, we seek to work together with you to set the relationship on the right track for the benefit of both our peoples.” “Bangladesh deeply values its relationship with India,” said Professor Yunus. “The deep-rooted friendship between our two countries is founded on intertwined histories, geographical proximity, and cultural affinity. We remain thankful for the unwavering support of the government and people of India during our most challenging time in 1971 [the brutal birth of Bangladesh].”

Al Jazeera writes: “Sheikh Hasina’s overthrow sent Bangladesh’s relationship with neighboring India into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit last month to China – India’s biggest rival. “Bangladesh has also moved closer to India’s arch-enemy Pakistan amid the diplomatic chill,” Al Jazeera remarked.

In an editorial, the largest circulated independent newspaper, the Prothom Alo writes: “Though delayed, we welcome the high-level meeting between Bangladesh and India. At the same time, we believe that one or two meetings alone are not sufficient to resolve the ongoing tensions in the bilateral relations of the two countries. Dialogue must be sustained at all levels. Bangladesh had long emphasized the need for such a meeting between the two heads of government.

“Since the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August last year and former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina seeking refuge in India, there have been certain strains in Bangladesh-India relations. Although the political transition in Bangladesh is entirely an internal matter, policymakers in Delhi have found it difficult to accept this reality.”

Prothom Alo urged for healthy bilateral relations, communication and movement between the peoples of both nations as essential.

Writer and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad lamented that India has imposed a blanket moratorium on the issuance of visas to Bangladeshi nationals since August last year. The non-issuance of visas halted three direct train and bus services. The flights between the two countries have also significantly reduced. Bangladesh did not reciprocate to the Indian visa regime policy and instead asked all missions to issue visas to Indian nationals, especially for journalists on the fast track.

Another bone of contention was water sharing. Bangladesh and India not only share a land border of nearly four thousand kilometers but also 54 common rivers. While the issue of the land boundary was resolved during the tenure of the Modi government, the matter of water sharing from the common rivers remains unsettled. The Ganges water-sharing treaty is set to expire in 2026.

Harsh Pant, foreign policy head at the Observer Research Foundation, an Indian think tank, expressed hope that the meeting between Modi and Yunus would “start the process of rebuilding some engagement” between the two historically close nations. Several think tanks on both sides of the border stated after the meeting took place that it was clear that India wants to chart a new course in its relationships with Bangladesh.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 7 April 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

Bangladesh: The Guardian of The Bay of Bengal!

Saleem Samad

The hostile Indian “Godi Media” is once again rolling up their sleeves after Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus said that, “We Are The Only Guardian Of Ocean…”

Hours before Prof Yunus arrived in Dhaka (before taking oath of public office as Chief Adviser of an Interim Government), he spoke to India’s popular 24/7 news channel NDTV. He said that “if Bangladesh becomes unstable, it will affect [neighboring] West Bengal, Myanmar, and the entire North East India.”

Such a statement by Yunus did raise eyebrows of Delhi-wallas but they did not officially react. Once again, when he mentioned that the North East India (collectively known as the “Seven Sisters”) is landlocked. He suggested that if the Indian states in the North East are given access to the ocean, it will make its economy vibrant and create backward linkage industries which will create employment opportunities for people on both sides of the border.

However, Assam’s (a member of Seven Sisters) Chief Minister, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a reaction says Yunus’s ploy in stating North East is “landlocked” and proposal to open the region to the “oceans” is a sinister threat and provocative to severe North East from mainland India.

In fact, such a proposal was first given by the Japanese in 2022 that they will help India’s North East to set up industries and infrastructure to reach Bay of Bengal – the maritime routes to export destinations. For Japan, India’s North East has been in focus for some time. Japan has shown an urgency to build an integrated and scaled-up supply chain in the region as it plans to boost its presence and increase investments.

South Asian countries are among the least connected and integrated in the world today, writes Mahua Venkatesh in an influential India Narrative news portal. Bangladesh will indeed be a “game-changer” for the region as it would open up connectivity with India’s North East, especially Tripura and Assam, along with landlocked Nepal and Bhutan, when the US 1.5 billion seaport becomes functional.

During a trip to India, Japan’s former Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, (2021 to 2024) in March 2023 highlighted the importance of strengthening connectivity in the North East region, rich in resources but relatively untapped, for developing robust global supply chains.

When Kishida proposed developing an industrial hub in Bangladesh with “supply chains” to the landlocked North Eastern states of India, and to Nepal and Bhutan beyond by developing a port and transport in the region, “to foster the growth of the entire region,” hardly anybody understood the depth of his vision, writes Venkatesh. The Indian government was upbeat about the Japanese proposal. Soon after a Japanese delegation held parleys with stakeholders on the yawning economic opportunities for the North East region.

Welcoming Japan’s initiative, the Japanese, Indian and Bangladeshi officials also discussed the plans with G. Kishan Reddy, India’s Federal Minister for the North East. At that time the Godi media, or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), advocating Hindutva (true ‘Indian’ partakes of this ‘Hindu-ness’) did not make any hue and cry nor did it raise “territorial claim” of North East.

Interestingly, history says the British Raj understood their political grievances and gave those princely states reasonable political autonomy which kept them in good humor. However, Delhi systematically ignored the Seven Sisters in scaling up infrastructure development for economic, industrial growth and emancipation of the people. The economic hardship, poverty and controversial state policy agenda went against the ethnic communities in North East states.

Delhi’s bureaucrats responsible for negotiating the political agenda of the ethnic leaders were mishandled. Failing in negotiations with the ethnic leaders, the region plunged into a deadly political crisis and thousands of military and para-military forces were deployed. The soldiers did not speak their language and did not understand their culture and they were blamed for committing human rights abuses during anti-insurgency operations against armed separatists, who were divided into several ethnic groups and sub-groups.

Initially, India refused to hold peace talks with the ethnic leaders blaming the armed insurrections that were aided and abetted by China and Pakistan in the 70s.

Pakistan came into the scenario when Bangladesh was an eastern province of Pakistan. The rogue military dictator General Ayub Khan (later President) provided political and material support to the separatist ethnic groups. Ayub Khan was once GOC and stationed in Dhaka. He knew the region. It’s a long story!

Most of the Indian officials and central politicians have little knowledge about states in north east and journalists travelling to Delhi for meetings or seminars used to hear strange stories about the region. Once, a journalist Anirban Rai, who worked for the Hindustan Times, went to the head office of an airlines at the ticket reservation counter to reconfirm his return flight to Guwahati, state capital of Assam. He was asked to produce his passport, which made him angry!

A fresh conspiracy theory has been cooked up that giving access to the ocean by Bangladesh challenges India’s regional security.

The feel-good project to serve as a key port for the landlocked North East Indian states is expected to be commercially operational in 2030. The economic development will immensely contribute to the rich cultural heritage of the millions of vibrant communities living in the region, bordering China on the side and restive Myanmar in the South. Meanwhile, projects for road and railway connectivity projects to the desired port from the Seven Sisters are almost completed by the Indian and Bangladesh governments.

Though Delhi has not issued any official statement, former senior officials like Ambassador Veena Sikri said Yunus is not politically empowered to negotiate with China to expand the Bay of Bengal to India’s arch-enemy and open the gateway to the ocean for North East.

One must admit that China, through its infrastructure investments, has made major inroads into Bangladesh after 2009, when Sheikh Hasina was re-elected backed by India (according to Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s autobiography The Coalition Years), since Modi’s government was hesitant to continue strengthening bilateral ties with Dhaka.

What the Godi media do not discuss is that Bangladesh is the guardian of the Bay of Bengal, the world’s largest bay, which forms the southern border of Bangladesh, covering an area of approximately 2.17 million square kilometers and is a crucial part of the Indian Ocean.

Bangladesh has sovereign rights for the exploration, exploitation, conservation, and management of natural resources, including both living and non-living resources.

Bangladesh has delimited its maritime boundaries with India and Myanmar through arbitration, ensuring a fair and equitable division of maritime zones in the Bay of Bengal. The 12-nautical mile territorial sea, a 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and a continental shelf extending up to 350 nautical miles, according to international law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Bangladesh has maritime rights in the bay.

The Indian TV news blames Yunus for recalibrating its compass towards Beijing and has crossed the red line for anti-India rants while visiting China, and they argue that his government is not legitimate. Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington said Bangladesh has become a battleground for great power competition.

India’s ruling BJP and the South Block in New Delhi must stop looking at Bangladesh through the lens of Sheikh Hasina, who has fled Dhaka and taken shelter somewhere in New Delhi.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 2 May 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

Growing Pressure on Dr. Yunus for Early Elections

SALEEM SAMAD

When Sheikh Hasina came to power, the new generation (Gen Z) had not seen free, fair, and inclusive elections since 2008. Election observers described the parliament elections under her 15-year autocratic regime as fraud, and the poll results were cropped.

The international media had widely reported how elections in Bangladesh in 2014, 2018, and 2024 were held under the cover of darkness, keeping thousands of opposition leaders and members in prison.

The rights organizations repeatedly made loud noise, but Hasina ignored their calls to hold free and fair elections. Instead, she was beating African drums that the country belongs to her father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was ordained as the architect of Bangladesh’s independence signalling she has the right the govern with an iron hand.

Amid cheering crowds, she often boasted that her father had made the country independent and was known as Bangabandhu (Friend of Bangladesh). Otherwise, she explained, the nation would have been subjugated by Pakistan’s military establishment, making them second-class citizens.

Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus took charge of an Interim Government backed by defiant student leaders and the military after they forced the Iron Lady (Hasina) to abdicate her power and flee to India, where she is living in exile.

The political parties except the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami have demanded an election at the soonest, indicating before the end of this year. Yunus charted a path to reforms to establish pluralism, democracy, and human rights, he announced in an address to the nation that several commissions suggested reforms to key state organs.

He conveyed to the political leaders that the elections would be held only after the reforms on Electoral System, Constitution, Public Administration, Judiciary, Financial Institutions, Media, Police Administration, and Anti-Corruption were made effective. The political parties and civil society welcomed his initiative.

When military dictator General Muhammad Ershad was ousted by students backed by the military in 1990, the mainstream opposition parties signed an election pledge prepared by the student leaders. The opposition leaders promised to implement the reforms in key state organs.

Sheikh Hasina, Khaleda Zia, and the Left Alliance jointly signed a tripartite political commitment that they will implement the reforms after winning the elections. Unfortunately, both the Begums went to power again and again but they deliberately avoided implementing the pro-people pledge.

After decades of bad governance, poor accountability and transparency, Yunus is determined to see a new Bangladesh, which adheres to the principles of international covenants to put the country at a respectable height on the world stage.

The reforms are supposed to guarantee democracy, pluralism, accountability, transparency, independence of the judiciary, independent election commission, freedom of expression, press freedom, and human rights. He has reiterated that the elections will be held once the reforms have taken off the ground zero.

Most political scientists and think tanks believe that the political parties would agree not to disagree. Later the politicians, when elected, the painstakingly homework for reforms would be binned. For more than five decades the political parties that ruled the nation were intolerant and arrogant. At times reacted very violently.

The politicians publicly flouted the rule of law, punished the journalists for exposing their corruption, and ignored the accountability of elected representatives of public offices. They often coerced police and judiciary to ensure that their blue-eyed boys were kept out of prison for extortion from traders and protection money from industrialists, while their rivals were severely punished and blocked from politics.

The visible challenges in front of Yunus are acting as a stumbling block in the accountability of bureaucracy, judiciary and law and order situation. The police are unable to restore lawlessness and control price hikes in kitchen markets.

There is no guarantee clause to be signed by politicians, that the reforms should be taken into cognizance in “good faith” by the ‘untamed’ political parties. Yunus told in an interview with an editor of a Bangladesh newspaper that the leaders of the political parties when they held parleys with him were polite and humble.

However, when they spoke to the journalists, they gave a different statement which they did not put on the table of discussion with the Chief Adviser of the Interim Government. It is strange but it is a fact, he told the editor.

The recent spree of vandalism and demolition of the Bangabandhu Museum, the former residence of the first President of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman on 5 February. Students went berserk in several cities and towns in the looting and arson of Awami League senior leaders, who were deemed icons of accomplices to autocratic Hasina’s misrule.

The Chief Adviser in a tone of warning that certain groups are pushing the nation into anarchy and lawlessness. The inventor of micro-credit Prof Yunus calls on all citizens “to immediately restore complete law and order and to ensure there will be no further attacks on properties” associated with the family of the ousted Sheikh Hasina and politicians of the fascist Awami League party or against any citizen on any pretext.

He, however, said the outrage has sparked from her (Hasina) refuge in New Delhi, and from there she continues to mobilize her militants to hamper Bangladesh’s recovery from years of abuse under her 15-year rule.

If any attempt is made to destabilize the country through any kind of provocative activities, law enforcement agencies will immediately take strict action against anyone acting to create chaos and anarchy, which includes the destruction of property. The government will bring the responsible individuals and groups to justice, he stated.

While the vandalism and looting, the law enforcement agencies were playing as silent spectators when the mobs were rioting. Several civil society, rights, and citizens groups strongly condemned the vandalism, arson, and looting of family members of Hasina and Awami League leaders.

Celebrated feminist Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who lives in exile in India, has called the demolition of Sheikh Mujib’s residence an act of “Islamic terrorists”.

The Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman said “If the ongoing madness does not stop, Bangladesh will be heading towards civil war.” While, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said in a statement that they will hold talks with Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus as soon as possible to express their concern over the country’s “deteriorating” law and order situation, especially the demolition of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s residence in Dhaka.

They fear that these attacks and vandalism in the last two days could pose a serious threat to national stability and disrupt the upcoming national election, a BNP statement said. It is understood that on the issue of appalling law and order status, the political parties will press Yunus to hold elections in the coming winter.

Most political analysts argue that Yunus may not agree to their demand for an early election, unless the reforms get tacit approval from all political parties, except for the former ruling party Awami League. Most of the like-minded political parties, except the Islamist parties, are lisping the same jargon as the BNP’s political agenda of early election.

Will an election roadmap neutralize the political crisis? Writer and researcher on political history Mohiuddin Ahmad does not believe that the situation will improve; rather, it may worsen.

Most political parties have extended their support to the Interim Government led by Prof Yunus. However, they argue that in the last six months, the government has failed in various areas, including controlling the price of daily essentials and improving the law and order situation.

As a result, there are doubts about their ability to control any situation in the country. The last two days of vandalism have added to the crisis of confidence. Ahmad remarked that if the government announces an election roadmap, there will be a further crisis when local party leaders clash with rivals in electioneering.

The government and mainstream political parties should focus on the country’s image and stability. Because if there is no stability, everything including democracy and elections will suffer, said political scientist Professor Mahbub Ullah to BBC Bangla Service.

First published in the Stratheia, Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 9 February 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

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

India’s ‘Neighborhood First’ Testament Fails Bangladesh

SALEEM SAMAD

Ancient India’s visionary strategist Chanakya gave six-fold policy deals on war and peace with the neighboring states, how a king should assess his power, and what actions he needed to take to deal with the states.

Nearly 2316 years ago, the Indian philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor professed diplomatic principles that still have relevance in modern diplomacy.

Chanakya who lived around 300 BCE was a key figure in the establishment of the glorious Mauryan Empire and is known for writing Arthashastra, an ancient Indian treatise on politics and economics.

Unfortunately, the South Block in New Delhi is manned by chosen blue-eyed civil officers who inherited the legacy of the British Raj instead of the marvel of Chanakya’s diplomacy.

South Block in New Delhi houses the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and the Ministry of Defense.

India had invested heavily in her continued hegemony among the neighbors, which has adopted a much trumped-up policy of ‘Neighborhood First’.

Earlier Delhi pursued the ‘Look East Policy’ to yield positive results in the region and Bangladesh and several South Asian countries were partners in progress and economic development.

Not to be misunderstood for the ‘Neighborhood First’ policy, but the Hindutava (an ideology or movement seeking to establish Hinduism and Hindu culture as dominant in India) pursued by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has irked most South Asian nations.

Presently India’s relationships with neighbors are blowing hot and cold. Some countries have developed love and hate with India after arch-enemy China made a dent in the region with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) mega projects, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Bangladesh. Now those countries are on the fresh list of disapproval by the helms of affairs in Delhi’s South Block.

Bangladesh on the diplomatic front is the opening batsman in a bid to bring to life the weakened SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation). Bangladesh is expecting the SAARC foreign secretary-level meeting will be held soon, which has been halted for the last 10 years.The SAARC summit has also stalled for 10 years, because of the India-Pakistan conflicts.

“SAARC appears dead but it should not be buried,” Touhid Hossain, a Bangladesh Adviser for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remarked. The regional cooperation was extremely important for improving trade and economy and reducing poverty in the South Asian region, the adviser said.

Yunus told the New Age, “India is not responding seriously. Indians explain that they have problems with Pakistan.” The bone of contention between Bangladesh and India is centered around Hasina, who is living in exile near Delhi.

Bangladesh has formally asked India to extradite deposed Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the MEA spokesperson refused to make any statement on Dhaka’s request when Indian journalists asked for a comment.

Now it seems that Delhi will remain silent on the issue of extradition. Both countries signed a treaty in 2013 and amended it in 2016. The treaty was signed to deport northeast India’s separatist leaders harbored in Bangladesh.

Similarly, two fugitive military officers indicted for the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the independence hero were hiding in India. Yunus told editor Kabir that if India does not officially respond to the extradition of Hasina, Dhaka will make a follow-up request after a month with Delhi.

Dhaka has repeatedly requested Delhi to ensure that Hasina remains quiet and refrain from making fiery political speeches over the phone to her loyalists, which often emerges in social media.

Most of the central leaders of Hasina’s Awami League have fled to India through clandestine routes. Many have taken refuge in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and other destinations.

Those who couldn’t escape have been arrested. They were accused of the deaths of students and protesters. The political prisoners are languishing in prison without bail for the last four months.

Last week, Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain and Chief of Army Staff General Waker-Uz-Zaman in separate media engagements have extended an olive branch to restore the bilateral relations with India.

General Waker, who is described by senior officers as a professional soldier in an interview with editor Matiur Rahman of Prothom Alo, the largest Bangla newspaper said that India is an important neighbor.

“We are dependent on India in many ways. And India is getting facilities from us too. A large number of their people are working in Bangladesh, formally and informally…So India has a lot of interest in Bangladesh’s stability,” he observed.

“This is a give-and-take relationship….We have to maintain good relations based on equality. The people in no way should feel India is dominating over us, which goes against our interests,” the COAS.

Waker is incidentally the husband of Sheikh Hasina’s cousin and last June was made COAS. He was a hard nut in negotiating with Hasina to quit and flee to India on 5 August last year.

On the other hand, the Foreign Advisor on the eve of New Year suggested that Bangladesh maintain “balanced relations” with India, China, and the United States, as all three nations hold “strategic importance” for the country.

Relations between Bangladesh and India have to be built on the basis of sovereignty, mutual interest, and dignity as the dimension and equation of Bangladesh’s relation with India have changed after 5 August, noted Hossain.

On the other hand, Indian news media NDTV, CNN-IBN News18, Times Now, Republic TV and several other media outlets have been amplifying fake stories that General Waker has ceased power from Hasina. The Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus is a façade (stooge) and the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami is dominating the Interim Government.

Prof Yunus in an interview with the New Age editor Nurul Kabir expressed his frustration over Indian media spreading concocted stories on Bangladesh and even described the Interim Government as an Islamist regime.

The Indian media along with the central leaders, as well as the state Chief Ministers of BJP have demonized Bangladesh for revenge attacks upon the 13 million Hindus and held Yunus responsible for the atrocities in the country.

“When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called me and alleged that the religious minority community was being persecuted here in Bangladesh, I told him that the narrative was an exaggerated one,” Yunus said in an interview with the anti-establishment newspaper.

Hossain said that the role played by Indian media was not at all conducive to establishing normal relations between the two countries.

Indian media, academicians, and political stalwarts are forgetting that the territory that is now Bangladesh was thrice partitioned. The British Raj partitioned in 1905 and 1947 to create Pakistan based on a Muslim-majority region in India. The third partition was in 1971, when it finally bifurcated from Pakistan after rejecting the Two-Nation theory, said political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad.

India must accept the political reality that Hasina has gone for now and must condemn the wanton deaths of more than a thousand students and protesters during the July-August so-called Monsoon Revolution, said Ahmad.

Historian Mohiuddin Ahmad concluded that unless Delhi recognizes the bloody student revolution that ousted the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina and gives hope on extradition, bilateral relations will continue to limp, which will severely affect regional cooperation (SAARC).

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 5 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

Pakistan Must Reconcile with Bangladesh's 1971 Painful Legacy

Dr Muhammad Yunus (R), Chief Adviser of Bangladesh Interim Government meets Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (L) at Cairo - Photo Collected

SALEEM SAMAD

After decades of hiatus, Bangladesh and Pakistan have made a major step toward a new era of regional cooperation in South Asia, which has been riddled with suspicion, distrust, disrespect, and a lack of neighbourliness among the eight countries.

When Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, Chief Advisor of the Interim Government of Bangladesh embraced Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif with grins on their faces decided to put the bilateral relations at a new height.

Yunus and Sharif met on the sidelines at the D-8 Summit held by developing nations in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

Shehbaz Sharif called for a strategic relationship between Dhaka and Islamabad and said “We are really looking forward to strengthening our relationship with our brother-in-country Bangladesh.”

Dr Yunus expressed his keenness to reactivate the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) as “a top priority.” 

“I am a big fan of the idea of SAARC. I keep harping on the issue. I want a summit of SAARC leaders even if it is only for a photo session because that will carry a strong message,” the French news agency AFP quoted Yunus as telling Shehbaz.

The moribund eight-nation SAARC (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) was largely stalled due to arguments between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Bangladesh and Pakistan are two wings of India and are not physically connected by land, rivers, and blue mountains. 

The two leaders expressed their desire to resolve outstanding grievances from the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971. The month of December is an emotional month for Bangladesh.

The day is observed with due solemnity to respect the millions of martyrs at the gigantic National Martyrs Memorial on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka.

All organizations, professional bodies, and political parties assemble at dawn to pay homage at the site, except for the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami, who were alleged henchmen and armed militias groups, which rampaged and pillaged thousands of villages during the nine months of liberation war.

On a historic day, Lieutenant General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, Commander of Eastern Command, Pakistan Army and Indian Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora of the Eastern Command, Indian Army flanked by a dozen Mukti Bahini commanders signed a historic ‘instrument of surrender’ in accordance to Geneva Convention.

An estimated 93,000 members of Pakistan’s armed forces, other auxiliary forces, civil officers, and their families surrendered on 16 December after a humiliating defeat, which created an independent Bangladesh.

It was the world’s largest surrender in terms of number of personnel since World War II. The prisoners of war (POWs) were repatriated under the Tripartite Agreement signed in April 1974 by Foreign Ministers of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India in New Delhi. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) held in Lahore, Pakistan in February 1974 helped resolve the issue of Bangladesh’s recognition intervened by Egypt and Algeria.

According to textbook history, the eastern province of Pakistan (known as East Pakistan) plunged into a bloody civil war after the military junta refused to accept the people’s mandate of the first-ever general elections in 1970.

The martial law government based in Rawalpindi launched a crackdown ‘Operation Searchlight’ in March 1971 after denying in handing over political power to the elected representatives. In hours the Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was detained and party banned.

When Mujib was picked up by the military in Dhaka, nearly 1,500 political and student leaders, intellectuals, acclaimed poets, senior lawyers, journalists and others were arrested from (western) Pakistan.

Relations between the two countries experienced hiccups during the last five decades. The three military dictators General Ziaur Rahman, General H.M. Ershad and General Moeen U Ahmed went ahead to thaw the bilateral relations with their counterpart military junta in Pakistan, which were never sustainable in the see-saw diplomatic maneuver by the autocratic regimes in both countries.

During the democratic era, the two Begums failed to build up the relationship between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The prestigious Pakistan newspaper The Dawn writes: In the years since the split (independence), Dhaka’s leaders — especially the recently ousted regime of Sheikh Hasina — stayed firmly in the Indian camp, preferring to maintain close ties with New Delhi and keeping Islamabad at arm’s length.

However, ever since a popular uprising that saw Hasina’s government toppled in August, there has been a thaw in ties between the two capitals, with trade and bilateral relations seeing a marked improvement, wrote the newspaper.

They also agreed to expand and deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest and emphasized the need to align efforts to achieve mutually beneficial development objectives.

Yunus told AFP “The issues (of 1971) have kept coming again and again. Let’s settle those issues for us to move forward.”

The two leaders acknowledged the importance of people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges including enhanced exchange of artists, sportspersons, academics, students, etc.

Political historian Mohiuddin Ahmad said he does not see how the relationship would defrost the relationship which has deepened scars of the brutal independence war.

It is no denying that Clause 13 of the Tripartite Agreement, Pakistan agreed to put 195 senior military officers on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and rape as a weapon of war.

Unfortunately, lack of a guarantee clause in the agreement, the military dictator and also President, General Ziaul Huq instead pardoned the accused, which was a serious breach of the Delhi agreement, said the Mukti Bahini veteran Mohiuddin Ahmad.

Sharif said the 1974 Tripartite Agreement involving Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India settled things, “but if there are other outstanding issues,” he would be happy to look into it. Yunus said it would indeed be nice to resolve things “once and for all for the future generations.”

Former Ambassador Humayun Kabir doubts that settling down on the 1971 issue, who is also a liberation war veteran said it would not be easy for the millions of people who joined the guerrillas (Mukti Bahini), those became war refugees, the genocide survivors and of course the rape victims would be able to forget the nightmare and pardon the perpetrators, who were unfortunately not punished for committing crimes in 1971.

When military usurper General Pervez Musharraf visited Bangladesh in July 2002, he was greeted by a general strike and Dhaka University students fought a pitch battle with riot police in the capital demanding Pakistan should seek apology for what military troops had committed.

He (Musharraf) regretted the excesses committed during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence but called for burying the past in the spirit of friendship. Well, his statement was short of apology for the crimes committed during the war and said “Your brothers and sisters in Pakistan share the pains of the events of 1971.”

Perhaps stating only one word “apology” in public for crimes committed by Pakistan military during 1971 would melt the ice once and for all, remarks Ambassador Kabir.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan, 21 December 2024

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

India’s efforts to thaw the frosty ties with Bangladesh will be difficult

Dr Yunus (R), Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri with Bangladesh counterpart Jashim Uddin.
Photo Collected

SALEEM SAMAD

The much-talked-about India-Bangladesh talks held on 9 December, apparently did not melt the desired amount of ice after the fall of the autocratic regime of Sheikh Hasina in early August.

In fact, the Foreign Secretary of India, Vikram Misr offers were too little, too less and too late to warm up the strained relations after Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus took oath as Chief Adviser of the Interim Government.

The Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) with his Bangladesh counterpart Foreign Secretary Jashim Uddin. The visiting Foreign Secretary highlighted India’s support for a democratic, stable, peaceful, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh.

“To that end, therefore, I have underlined today India’s desire to work closely with the interim government of Bangladesh authorities,” he said.

Vikram Misri said there is no reason why this mutually beneficial relationship should not continue to develop in the interest of our people.

He said they have always seen in the past and will continue to see in the future the relationship as a people-centric and people-oriented relationship—one that has the benefits of all the people as its central motivational force.

The parleys did not make any proactive decisions regarding the visa regime, which was unilaterally stalled by the Indian government after the sudden change of government. There were no tangible discussions on the resumption of the Dhaka-Agartala, Dhaka-Kolkata bus service, Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Siliguri, and Khulna-Kolkata Maitree trains, which came to a screeching halt.

The non-issuance of visas has also impacted the Dhaka-Delhi, Dhaka-Kolkata, Dhaka-Chennai, and Chattogram-Kolkata flights, which have been reduced to one-fourth after the Indian High Commission visa processing centres, except on special cases stopped after 5 August, the day Hasina fled the country.

Regarding issuing Indian visas to Bangladesh nationals, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Adviser Syeda briefing the media said Misri has assured that steps would be taken to increase the number of Indian visas for Bangladeshi nationals.

After reading out a written press briefing by Misri, he hurriedly walked away without taking any questions from the journalists, including dozens of Indian journalists presently in town.

Walking away from a press briefing means that the speaker either has something to hide or wants to avoid taking questions, which could be embarrassing for Delhi’s South Block.

The press statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is fully loaded with diplomatic phrases and jargon. It says, Misri reiterated India’s willingness to build a positive and constructive relationship with Bangladesh, based on mutual trust and respect and mutual sensitivity to each other’s concerns and interests.

The Indian Foreign Secretary emphasized that people are the main stakeholders in India-Bangladesh relations, and noted India’s development cooperation and multifaceted engagements with Bangladesh.

The MEA statement mentions that both sides held comprehensive discussions on a wide range of issues covering political and security matters, border management, trade, commerce and connectivity, cooperation in water, power and energy sectors, development cooperation, consular, cultural and people-to-people ties.

The statement does not mention how the people, identified as the main stakeholders in India-Bangladesh relations interaction in the face of India’s blanket ban on visas will continue with people-to-people contact.

Political historian and researcher Mohiuddin Ahmad asked, “How will the so-called people-to-people ties will continue? On WhatsApp or social media?”

Ahmad was keenly following the recent development of India-Bangladesh relations, which have dipped to an all-time low in 53 years of all-weather friendship.He said when Indian media sang to the tune of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) advocating Hindutva, an extremist religious-cultural philosophy had embarked upon anti-Bangladesh rhetoric, challenging the legitimacy of Yunus administration, which was tantamount to downgrading the status of the India-Bangladesh ties.

Misri could not assure Bangladesh officials of the means to stop the anti-Bangladesh campaign of the ruling BJP and the Indian media to stabilise the hard-earned friendship, since the brutal birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

About the propaganda being spread by a section of Indian media against Bangladesh, Adviser Rizwana Hasan told journalists that the Indian foreign secretary claimed that the Indian government is not responsible for the anti-Bangladesh campaign and that Delhi does not subscribe to the disparagement against Bangladesh.

The Indian side also claimed that their government did not own the propaganda, the environment adviser added.

The majority of mainstream media picked up sources from fake news floating on social media without fact-checking. Several fact-checkers in India and Bangladesh have debunked scores of fake news, but Indian media has not stopped.

At least 49 Indian media outlets spread fake reports, according to fact-check outfit Rumour Scanner based in Bangladesh.

They are still playing with the Hindu card, terming the attacks on Hindus in the aftermath of the Iron Lady Hasina fleeing the country.

The Indian political leaders, several organisations and television news channels did not hesitate to coin words of ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’, without understanding the academically accepted definition found in textbooks and also in Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Mohiuddin Ahmad, who is a genocide survivor said how will one classify the ethnicity of the Adivasis? Never knew that Hindus are ethnic, he remarked.

Well, Misri aptly raised the concern of religious minorities and urged for their safety, security and welfare. He also raised some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious and diplomatic properties.

Misri also paid a courtesy call with Dr Yunus, he stressed reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), an inter-governmental organisation that promotes economic, social, and cultural development among Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

SAARC was put into cold storage after India, Bangladesh and Nepal declined to attend the 19th Summit scheduled in Islamabad, Pakistan after a border skirmish in Kashmir.

The two officials during their parley, also exchanged views on sub-regional, regional and multilateral issues, and agreed to enhance consultations and cooperation to advance regional integration, including under the BIMSTEC framework. Misri did not mention SAARC, except nodding his head while speaking to Dr Yunus.

Misri will be the second senior-most Indian official to have met Dr Yunus, after the Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma met the inventor of micro-credit Dr Yunus days after he took oath on 8 August.

After the parley with the Yunus, Rizwana Hasan briefing the journalists said India is eager to clear the cloud formed in the sky over Bangladesh and India relations after the ouster of the Hasina government.

There was no comment regarding, India recognising the Monsoon Revolution, the student uprising which ousted the autocratic Hasina regime.

He concluded that the discussions have allowed both the countries to take stock of the relations, and appreciates the opportunity in holding the meeting to have had a frank, candid and constructive exchange of views with all my interlocutors.

First published in the International Affairs Review, New Delhi, India on 11 December 2024 

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. Email: <saleemsamad@hotmail.com>; Twitter (X): @saleemsamad

100 Days of Dr. Yunus: Triumphs, Trials, and Turning Points in Power

SALEEM SAMAD

The nation waits patiently. Aspirant political parties are growing impatient, and citizens are frustrated with Nobel laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus’s first 100 days as Chief Advisor of the Interim Government.

The Monsoon Revolution was a student uprising that abolished the quota for government civil service jobs for siblings of liberation war veterans of the bloody independence of 1971.

Yunus told the French news agency AFP that elections would follow after multiple reforms. He reiterates that reforms are needed before the country can elect a government following the ouster of autocratic ruler Sheikh Hasina.

The speed of reforms ‘will decide how quick the election will be,’ the Nobel Peace Prize winner and inventor of banking the poor said in an interview on the sidelines of the COP29 climate talks in Azerbaijan. He insisted that he would steer the country towards a democratic vote.

Dr. Muhammad Yunus emphasizes the need for constitutional reforms and a democratic vote to stabilize Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster.

‘That’s a promise that we made, that as soon as we are ready, we’ll have the elections, and the elected people can take over, run the country,’ he said.

He said the country needed to quickly agree on possible constitutional reforms and the shape of the government, parliament, and election rules.

The country has struggled with instability, admitted Dr Yunus since the ouster of Hasina, whose rule witnessed appalling human rights abuses, including the mass detention, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances of her political opponents. Such incidents are presently absent.

A series of street riots by ‘non-paid’ garment workers, battery-driven auto-rickshaw drivers agitated to ply in the capital city Dhaka, and clashes among students of neighboring colleges for days.

Presently, the widespread agitation in the country has occurred after the arrest of a former ISKON priest Chinmoy Krishna Das Prabhu on charges of sedition filed by a member of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The radicalized Muslims and students demanded ISKON, a Hindu spiritual international organization to be banned and punish the Sadus (priest) for nefarious activities, which has been deemed as anti-state.

Rising sectarian tensions in Bangladesh have led to violent clashes, particularly targeting Hindu communities and ISKON establishments.

However, the High Court has overturned the petition to ban ISKON but did not mention the safety and security of the Hindus in Bangladesh, which has a population of 13.1 million (2022 census) and makes up about 7.95 percent of the total population of 165.16 million.

Angered with the administration for not taking action against ISKON, the radicalized Muslims, with no affiliation to any Islamic parties or Islamist outfit attacked scores of Hindu temples, especially ISKON establishments in the country in the last few days.

Indian media lambast Bangladesh

Indian administration, ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with flocks of Indian media have come down heavily on Yunus government that he has not done enough to provide security to the Hindus and scale down sectarian violence after Hasina fled to India.

After a brief bout between Delhi and Dhaka over India playing with the Hindu card, the Indian media and BJP have called to ban exports to Bangladesh, which they argue would weaken Bangladesh’s economy and would submit to Indian hegemony in the region.

Mohiuddin Ahmad, political historian and researcher interprets such provocation as declaring war against Bangladesh, which they helped to become independent 53 years ago.

Delhi has ceased issuance of tourist visas for an indefinite period, since the collapse of Hasina’s regime on 5 August. India has cited the absence of security at the visa centres in the country. No announcement has been made about when the visa centers will resume.

For the past three months, only one Indian Visa Application Center in Bangladesh has been processing a limited number of visas for students and urgent medical purposes.

However, Bangladesh has not halted visa centers in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata Guwahati, Agartala and other cities for Indian nationals visiting the country.

After a call from Yunus, Bangladesh missions abroad have been advised to issue visas to visiting journalists on the fast track. Several leading Indian media outlets have visited the country, sans bureaucratic red-tapism.

Meanwhile, the official Facebook page of the Chief Adviser’s Office has debunked scores of fake news and disinformation churned by the Indian media and social media enthusiasts.

Mahfuz Anam, editor of an independent newspaper The Daily Star writes: The Indian media’s coverage appears to be driven by concern solely for Hindus of Bangladesh, rather than the people of Bangladesh [who were shot and killed by police and Awami League’s armed vigilantes]. Will that foster a healthy relationship between our two countries? I repeat that India should not see the recent events through the lens of Sheikh Hasina but through the lens of democracy, he remarked.

Yunus said it’s only three months after the revolution. “We are hoping that we can sort it out and have a peaceful law and order,” he added.

At an international conference in Dhaka, Muhammad Yunus said “We witnessed a historic political changeover just 100 days ago. Future Bangladesh will be based on justice, human rights, and freedom of speech.”

Managing sky-high reforms

Marking the interim government’s 100th day in office, the International Crisis Group (ICG) published a report titled “A new era in Bangladesh? The first hundred days of reform’. The think tank highlighted corruption, irregularities, politicization of administration and judiciary, and destruction of the electoral system by the fallen Awami League regime. This is the second one of the report’s two parts.

The Brussels-based think tank ICG noted that it will not be an easy task for the interim government to implement the reform plans. Against the backdrop, it presented a set of recommendations regarding the situation in Bangladesh.

A key challenge for the interim government will be to manage sky-high public expectations. Given the constraints on Dr Yunus and his allies – including their lack of governing experience, the pent-up grievances in Bangladeshi society and the country’s fractious politics – it will most likely be impossible for them to deliver entirely on their ambitious agenda.

To achieve this goal, the government will need to amend laws and the constitution; reform the election commission and electoral system; and make changes within the police and bureaucracy, given the centrality of these institutions to holding free and fair elections.

The judicial system of Bangladesh has never been entirely safe from political interference. Under Hasina, the meddling assumed alarming proportions as her administration used the courts to cudgel her political opponents.

The bureaucracy is not just politicized, though; it is also highly inefficient. The quota system has deprived it of many good recruits, while both large-scale and petty corruption, already commonplace, got worse under Hasina, writes the ICG.

As an interim government figure put it, “If we don’t repair our institutions, there won’t be free and fair elections or a smooth transition, so what will be the point of all this?”

As usual, echoing the concern of the citizenry, the International Crisis Group advised that the Interim Government’s first priority should be to restore law and order.

Trump towards Bangladesh

The fear psychosis in the minds of Bangladesh people regarding the comeback of Donald Trump, as President of the United States of America has been scratching their heads.

Jon Danilowicz, a former American diplomat based in Bangladesh in a post on his verified Twitter (X) @JonFDanilowicz writes: America First and Bangladesh First are compatible. Both nations will benefit from the historic opportunity post-Hasina to create a new Bangladesh that embraces freedom, unleashes the potential of its citizens, and leverages a diaspora that wants the best for both.

He further argues that the ‘anti-Trump’ rhetoric against Bangladesh’s Interim Government is part of a disinformation effort being orchestrated by the supporters of the country’s ousted dictator.

She is a long-time anti-American kleptocrat, whose government was responsible for killing thousands of people during her 15 years in office.   The people of Bangladesh want reforms leading to elections that will make their country great again.

He also warns not to fall for the Hindutva propaganda. What is most disingenuous about the intense Hindutva lobbying effort in Bangladesh is that it is not really about protecting minorities.

The goal of this effort is to rehabilitate Awami League and Sheikh Hasina for their return to power. Why do they (India) want Hasina back?  The answer is simple. They don’t trust the Bangladeshi people to choose their leaders and instead want to install a government that advances India’s interests.

Danilowicz concludes that the criticism of the Hindutva lobby is to brand anyone who supports the Interim Government and fought against Hasina’s regime, as an Islamist.

First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 2 December 2024

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