Beyond the periphery of diplomatic ambience

Located in the eastern part of South Asia having a Muslim majority population Bangladesh is passing a special time with its big neighbour India. Though Bangladesh is contiguous with only two countries and those are India and Myanmar. But the situations in both the countries are creating tremendous pressure over Bangladesh which is the cause of internal instability and social disorders in the country. Before 5th August, 24 the relation between Bangladesh and India was unique and it touched the upper ceiling of diplomacy. It was the official version of the then government before 5th August. But situation has changed now after the fall of Hasina regime. Since our independence there prevails always a psychological gap between Indo-Bangla relationship and it is the perception of the huge number of people of Bangladesh and the psyche of general people.
As a South Asian country, India is the biggest country and it has common boundary with all the countries except Afghanistan. Though Sri Lanka and Maldives are Island countries but India has direct access to those countries through sea and air. Nepal and Bhutan are land locked countries and they have no direct access to sea. The vast Himalayan range blocks the northern access of Nepal and Bhutan to China. So they are completely dependent on Indian business, import, export and other services sectors. In South Asia there are two Hindu majority countries (India and Nepal), four Muslim majority countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Maldives) and two Buddhist majority countries (Sri Lanka and Bhutan). These are the unique phenomena in a region which arenot very common in this world.
Among the Muslim majority nations, Bangladesh has a special characteristic and that is the geographical location of Bangladesh. In present day world all the Muslim majority countries have contiguous Muslim neighbours except Bangladesh. Bangladesh is the lone Muslim majority country which does not haveany contiguous Muslim majority neighbours. This fact and reality can also be responsible to make the psyche of the Bangladeshi people. The major outstanding issues which currently matter Bangladesh-India relation are as follows:
a. Boarder Killing;
b. Common rivers’ water issues;
c. Connectivity;
d. Trade Imbalance;
The Issues resolved with India:
a. Enclaves issue;
b. Sea boundary issue;
India has common land boundary with Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. We know that India has constructed barbed wire fencing on the boundary line with two South-Asian countries and those are Bangladesh and Pakistan. Indians say the barbed wire fencing is for only security of their country. To the people of Bangladesh Indian attitudes have become a big national psychological problem and the Bangladeshis do believe so. The case of Nepal and Bhutan is different from that of the problem of Bangladesh. Nepal and Bhutan are land locked countries and they act like buffer states between India and China. But the balance is definitely to the side of India due to the geographical advantage. There are many reasons behind this situation. We know the vast Himalayan Range stands northern side of Nepal and Bhutan and for these natural barriers they have limited scope to maintain equal relationship with India and China. Moreover, there are traditional relationships and communications exist among India, Nepal and Bhutan. Economy of Nepal and Bhutan is heavily dependent on India. For this reason and geo-political reality they have little scope to follow a different path independently disregarding Indian attitude. But in the case of Sri Lanka and Maldives the situation is much more convenient than Nepal and Bhutan. As island states they have ample scopes to act independently bypassing Indian influence. However, it is very difficult for them to formulate their own policy for the vastness of Indian influence. This is the reality prevailing in the case of Sri Lanka and Maldives. The other two neighbours Pakistan and China except Myanmar maintain a strained relationship with India for their different bilateral issues. With Myanmar apparently India has no major problems. Few years back North-East extremists used to take shelter in Myanmar and about a couple of years back India organised a surgical strike against them inside Myanmar. India has no common border with Afghanistan. The relationship between Afghanistan and India is very much friendly since long. They have no outstanding issues between them. But in pre-partitioned era India had boundary problem (Durand Line). Now this problem exists between Pakistan and Afghanistan. So the main outstanding issues between India and Bangladesh are as follows:
Ganges water treaty with India is a treaty of dissatisfaction from the psyche of Bangladeshi People. It was signed in late nineties with 30 years span. Almost 28 years gone and after few years this treaty might be extended or negotiation may start for new treaty within a year. If it happens, the experts from Bangladesh side have to take cognizance of psyche of Bangladeshi people at the negotiation table.
Regarding Teesta water issue, a treaty was about to be signed in 2011. So far we know both parties got accorded with the draft of the treaty but at the eleventh hour the treaty was not signed due to some internal affairs between the Indian Central government and the state government of West Bengal. That time the then foreign minister of Bangladesh had been so sure that she became very embarrassed after knowing this news. Since then Bangladesh has been struggling and trying to convince India for signing a just treaty on Teesta water issue. But in reality it did not happen. Moreover, India became successful using Feni river water.
On connectivity issues India is successful. We can say it now. India had wanted road connectivity with North East and India got it from Bangladesh. The railway connectivity with North East will start very soon. For this the railway track is being constructed between Agartala-Akhaura rail link and the Siliguri-Dhaka link is already established. Though after fall of Hasina regime, passenger trains service is suspended for indefinite period. On border security issue Indian BSF always shows aggressiveness. For this aggressiveness many Bangladeshi people were shot dead by the BSF Jawans.
We know India is one of the biggest trade partners of Bangladesh. But the balance of trade is on the side of India since long. Bangladesh has taken lots of initiatives to make it parallel. But due to many non-tariff barriers imposed by Indian authority it could not see the light. The size of the Indian economy is much bigger and simply Bangladesh is no match with India. Notwithstanding Indian attitude seems to be not that much friendly in reality regarding trade and business. Many Indian national, formally or informally are working in Bangladesh, send billions of dollars to India from Bangladesh every year.
With the above facts in mind we can perceive that always India is successful at the negotiating table and whereas the fulfillment of Bangladesh’s desire is still a far cry. So time has come that the entire deal with India regarding Bangladesh interest has to be evaluated empirically for safeguarding the national interest of Bangladesh, otherwise the psychological gaps between the peoples of two countries will continue long time. The policymakers of both the countries should actively address these burning issues.