Farooq
Sobhan
Former
Foreign Secretary, Bangladesh
Source:
SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW [SAIR]
Weekly
Assessments & Briefings, Volume 1, No. 3, August 5, 2002
(South
Asia Terrorism Portal)
President
Musharraf’s two-day visit to Bangladesh from 29th to 31st July, 2002 will be
considered by many Bangladeshis as a landmark visit on two counts. For the very
first time, a Pakistani Head of State expressed regret for the army action in
1971 and apologized for what transpired at that time in Bangladesh. Such an
apology was well beyond expectations for most people. However, the Acting
President of the Awami League (AL), Abdus Samad Azad referred to the apology as
‘non-serious’ and wanted an ‘unqualified apology’. Some observers have pointed
out that while the Pakistani President expressed both regret and an apology,
this was done in a qualified manner. In the visitor’s book at the National
Monument at Savar, he wrote "your brothers and sisters in Pakistan share the
pain of the events of 1971." The following day, at a banquet hosted in his
honour by Begum Khaleda Zia, he said, "We feel sorry for the tragedy which left
deep scars on both our nations. But wounds do heal with time." In her reply, the
Prime Minister of Bangladesh thanked Musharraf for his "candid expression on the
events of 1971," adding, "this will, no doubt, help to mitigate the old wounds."
The
Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Morshed Khan, was quick to remind the Awami
League that in 1974 it was none other than Bangubandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
who, in a spirit of magnanimity, had opted to forgive and forget the atrocities
committed by the Pakistan army in 1971, and had agreed to the repatriation of
the 195 war criminals who were in Indian custody; and that the demand for an
apology was raised by neither Sheikh Hasina nor her father when they were at the
helm of affairs. On the issue of the last minute refusal of the Awami League
leadership to meet with Pervez Musharraf because he was a military dictator,
Morshed Khan referred to Hasina’s 75-minute meeting with Musharraf during the
D-8 summit in Cairo in year 2001, when she was Prime Minister. He also mentioned
the fact that the then-Foreign Secretary, Shafi Sami, had traveled to Pakistan
at Sheikh Hasina’s behest to deliver an invitation to the Pakistani President to
visit Bangladesh. Diplomatic observers feel that the Awami League’s attempts to
embarrass the government on account of the Musharraf visit back-fired miserably,
and that the last minute decision of the Awami League not to meet Musharraf was,
in the words of the former State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abul Hassan
Chowdhury, who had been instructed by Sheikh Hasina to set up the meeting, an
act of ‘great immaturity’ on the part of the Awami League leadership. Why did
the Awami League do this?
The
government had its back to the wall because of the recent traumatic events in
Dhaka University. There has been country-wide criticism of the police action
against women students, and the Awami League felt it could exploit this
situation to its advantage by linking the strike called by the students on July
30 calling to serve simultaneously as a protest against the Musharraf visit.
There were, however, few takers for this posture.
It
has also been suggested that a possible reason for the cancellation was because
India had asked for it. This seems far fetched. In reality, both the ruling
Bangladesh National Party (BNP) and the AL have woken up to the fact that, in
this day and age, no government in Bangladesh can sustain unfriendly relations
with India or ignore its other neighbours in the region.
Pervez
Musharraf had evidently done some homework before coming to Bangladesh. He knew
exactly which buttons to press in order to win over the otherwise suspicious,
some might even say hostile, public. Having expressed his apologies for 1971, he
announced that Pakistan would allow duty free access to 10,000 tons of tea from
Bangladesh and waive all tariffs on raw jute, and also agreed to examine the
request to extend duty free access for some other items. The possibility of a
free trade agreement was also discussed. The business community has made it a
point to contrast this gesture with the prevarication and foot-dragging by four
successive governments in India on the issue of duty free access for 25 product
lines from Bangladesh, which has been promised to Bangladesh.
Pervez
Musharraf also earned kudos for his comments on ‘reinventing SAARC’, including
his suggestion that it was high time that the South Asian Association for
Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was asked to play a role in the settlement of
disputes between member states. Implicit in what Musharraf said was a criticism
of India’s preference to deal with its neighbours bilaterally, and this was
underlined by the statement that SAARC was held hostage by Indo-Pak relations.
Commenting
on the Kashmir issue, Musharraf reiterated the position that Pakistan would
"accept whatever the Kashmiris want. But elections under coercion cannot be a
substitute for plebiscite." He was of the view that the Kashmir problem had been
internationalized and that the United Nations would not recognize the outcome of
the elections in Kashmir without international monitoring. Bangladesh, however,
was careful to avoid taking sides on the issue.
The
Musharraf visit was very much the General’s initiative, and was possibly an
attempt to make the point that Pakistan was far from being isolated in the
region, and that it was, on the contrary, sensitive to the concerns of its
neighbours. His ‘two gestures’ combined with his comments on SAARC and the fact
that he refrained from making any statement that would in any way embarrass his
hosts, have encouraged the Bangladesh government to view the visit as a very
successful one. An added bonus has been the very successful initiative taken by
the Awami League to shoot itself in the foot by fixing an appointment with
Musharraf and canceling it at the last minute.
In
fact, the visit on the whole, rather like Musharraf’s apology, was only a
qualified success. No headway was made in respect of the two long standing
issues: the division of assets and liabilities, and the repatriation of the
‘stranded Pakistanis’ or Biharis who opted to go to Pakistan in 1972.
Musharraf’s position that the repatriation of these persons must await the
return of three million Afghan refugees, was certainly not well received in any
quarter. It also remains to be seen whether the efforts to strengthen economic
and commercial relations will actually produce anything concrete.
Can
the Musharraf visit change the political or economic dynamics in the region? The
answer must be an emphatic no. For Bangladesh today, perhaps more so than ever
before, there is a compelling need to put its relations with India on a solid
and stable footing. Both countries need to reach out to each other in a
pragmatic way in order to strengthen trade and economic relations and move
forward on a whole range of issues. The building of bridges between the States
of India’s Northeast and Bangladesh, breathing life into sub-regional
cooperation, development of roads, railways and ports on a sub-regional basis,
the harnessing of water resources, energy cooperation and a host of other
subjects, need to be addressed when India’s Minister for External Affairs,
Yashwant Sinha, visits Dhaka later this month. Notwithstanding all the hoopla
surrounding Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Bangladesh, there can be little doubt
that the Indian Minister’s visit is of much greater significance to Bangladesh.
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South Asia Intelligence Review (SAIR) is a weekly service that will bring you
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