viewpoint viewpoint
A TRAIN TO DHAKA
years. Despite being the architect hand in hand for mutual growth.
of Bangladesh, India does not hav India was fearing that after the US
Putting friendship on the rails
the best of relations with it. Know- offensive against the Al Qaeda and
ing very well that Bangladesh (be- the Taliban in Afghanistan and
sides Myanmar) is India’s link to Pakistan, many of the terrorists had
Southeast Asia, India has failed to fled to Bangladesh, where they felt
keep these countries on its side. that they had a friendly administra-
They instead, prefer Chinese in- tion and eventually would convert
vestment for developing their own that country into a second Afghani-
oil sectors and building infrastruc- stan.
tures (roads and pipelines), which Now, all that has changed
will allow Beijing to ship out ex- with Dhaka recognizing the threat
ports and import crude. the Islamists pose to the country’s
While China is taking all the social, political and economic sta-
pulp out of the fruit, India has to bility. It is not impossible that the
Secretary of Road and Railway Division of
rethink its external policy, or rather the Ministry of Communication Dr Muham- new rulers have drawn the appropriate
its neighbourhood policy for the cru- mad Mahbubur Rahman and Indian High lessons from Pakistan’s travails, where
cial countries around the Northeast. If Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakrabarty not only are the groups, modeled on the
Bangladesh and Myanmar are two im- signing the Bangla-India Agreement on Taliban, becoming stronger, but the fun-
portant states for India from a security Dhaka-Kolkata Passenger Train Service. damentalists have been able to spread
point of view, they are important for the their tentacles even to Islamabad.
Northeast for a strong economy. to carry out business with the caretaker But the greatest thing to happen in
The best thing that could have hap- government despite a visible suspension the history of India is the resumption of
pened long ago is India’s support to of democratic activities in Bangladesh. passenger train services between India
Bangladesh’s garment industry. If Levis The caretaker government in Dhaka, un- and Bangladesh on April 14, the Ben-
jeans could be stitched in Bangladesh, der Fakhruddin Ahmed, took office on galee New Year day – almost 43 years
why can’t we import them from there it- January 12 last year and postponed both after they were suspended at the time of
self? If Dhakai Jamdani (a variety of sa- national and local elections till 2008 end the India-Pakistan war and when Bangla-
ree) is so popular in India, why don’t we – a decision that defies the country’s con- desh was East Pakistan. Named Maitree
have even one manufacturing unit in the stitution and puts an un-elected regime in Express, the train comprises six coaches
Joydeep Bhattacharjee audacious intrusion by the Bangladesh economic dependence (of that country) entire eastern region? India has to look charge for an indefinite period. and a pantry car and runs twice a week
Rifles (BDR) in Pyrdiwah (in Megha- or interdependence go a long way in into these issues from a real perspective. But they got much needed support – on Saturdays and Sundays.
On a sultry and oppressive summer day, laya) and the killing of 16 BSF personnel establishing that tie. The more economi- Nevertheless, India has recently from India (in its silence) and returned Prior to 1947 there was a regular
in the year 2000, I was returning to my at Mancachar in Assam. cally dependent the neighbouring coun- agreed to import eight million pieces of with assurances that the militant bases overnight railway service from Kolkata to
office after completing an assignment. The Pyrdiwah incident is one of the try becomes on you, the more bargain- garments, duty free, from Bangladesh – a in that country would be wiped out so Goalandu and further up to Dhaka (then
My energy was sapped and so I entered rarest intrusions that India has ever faced. ing power you attain. This realization welcome sign for the cause of mutual trust. that the country’s security concern is ad- Dacca) via Narayangunj. At the time of
a store looking for a cool bottle of coke. The BSF bunkers were occupied in the (of India) came, probably, through its This has, in fact, brought a feel good factor dressed. Partition there were three train services
The shop-keeper, however, introduced middle of the night and the entire troop was own experience of working with foreign to the strained relations between the two. Its heartening for India that at a time from Sealdah (in Kolkata) to different
me to a small bottle of lichee juice incapacitated – albeit they (BSF) contin- companies which not only influence our India is the greatest democracy in when Pakistan was going back to its old destinations of then East Pakistan. The
which, to my utter surprise, I found to be ued to hold the position from within, gher- stock markets, but also, do interfere in the region, where democracy is in dis- form of cross border terrorism, as feared trains that ran then were the East Bengal
a brand from Bangladesh. Manufactured aoed by the BDR personnel from all sides. the evaluation of our currency. tress. If China was caught on the wrong by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as Mail, the East Bengal Express and the
by Pran, a soft drink company in that This incident taught India a good lesson India’s economy is largely driven by foot while handling the Tibetan move- well, Bangladesh has gone all out to fight Barisal Express – all of which were in
country, which produces lichee juice, – at least enough to realize the importance American companies, which even restrict ment for freedom, Bangladesh is yet to it by executing six terrorists, including operation till 1965.
this is exported to India. of having friendly neighbours and also to the appreciation of the Indian rupee. But restore democracy, a system that is still two who had acquired a fearsome reputa- Its to India’s benefit to reconstruct
Since then, five or six years have know as to how to keep them close. The that’s about India’s understanding with eluding Myanmar as well. India’s si- tion for their depredations. The two were the “Gujral doctrine” of giving more to
passed and this lichee juice has become world has otherwise been changing very the US. What about South East Asia? lence, though, will have a negative im- Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla bhai, head smaller neighbours and expecting less
almost as popular as any other brand of fast – from the war of words to the war of In the South East, China enjoys very pact on its image in the sub-continent, of the Jagrata Muslim Janata (Awakened from them. The approach, instead, must
soft drinks – rather more popular among economics – all in a span of fifteen years. good economic ties with all its neigh- it is, however, better than inviting more Muslim Masses), and Abdur Rahman, be balanced and make smaller countries
trouble from across the border. head of the Jamaat-e-Mujahideen, one of depend more on it – not just to get some
those who believe that American soft The economic warfare is the latest in the bours, something India has failed to
drinks are more harmful considering list and may be more powerful than bio- achieve. China has fourteen countries In fact, India remained a mute witness the signatories of Al Qaeda’s fatwa estab- one-time benefit. A future sovereign,
high pesticide content. logical warfare. around its borders and it has been main- to the bloodless coup, of a sort, in Dhaka lishing an International Islamic Front. economically viable and stable Bangla-
I had an instinctive feeling that day India took a little time to grasp this. taining fairly balanced relations with al- under the thin guise of civilian control for This crackdown against the Islamic desh is in India’s interest. The Maitree
that the sore relations between the two However, it attained the maturity to un- most all of them. Even, its presence in the reason that the caretaker government fundamentalists by the Army-backed re- Express is likely to do just that so as to
neighbouring countries might improve derstand how much the market driven Bangladesh is bigger than that of India. had sent across a message that it would gime in Bangladesh has instilled much bring back the long lost friendship on
– given the fact that understanding be- forces influence the policy of a govern- On the contrary, India’s influence on work towards New Delhi’s concerns confidence among the Indian diplomats track and chug into a new era of mutual
tween the two was improving since the ment. For best relations with neighbours, its neighbours has only waned over the about its security. India in turn vowed about the country’s sincerity to walk trust and interdependence.
12 June 08 June 08 13
