As tension between Hindus and Muslims kept mounting, one Muslim Movement activist, Choudhry Rahmat Ali, coined the name Pakistan in January 1933, suggesting a separate country for the community out of British India, enunciating the Two Nation Theory later propagated both by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal for the creation of Pakistan. The partition of the country into India and Pakistan led to the world’s largest forced migration of millions of people to leave their homes to move to other countries with avoidable bloodshed, communal disharmony, economic, social, and cultural disasters, and the Kashmir conflict forever. We all are aware that India and Pakistan have gone through numerous wars, and the 1971 War led to the dismemberment of East Pakistan, becoming a newly independent country, Bangladesh, burying Jinnah’s Two Nation Theory forever as a separate religion; the two did not share anything with different languages, culture, distances, and politics of conflict.
The mistrust between the West and the East Pakistan wings led to the Bengali brethren’s genocide, dismembering Pakistan and the creation of the independent young nation of Bangladesh. The Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the architect of independent Bangladesh, became its first prime minister (PM). He was killed in carnage on August 15, 1975, at his residence in Dhaka by a group of army personnel. Bangladesh has gone through many upheavals, and Sheikh Hasina, having re-mobilized her late father’s Awami League (AL), played a very crucial role in ending General Ershad’s military rule and, six years later, defeated the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of Khaleda Zia and became the PM for the first time in 2009.
Under Sheikh Hasina’s rule, the country’s GDP increased and even surpassed its erstwhile master (West) Pakistan, and so did relations with India, much to the dislike of many within and outside the country. Corruption, lack of opportunities to survive and progress for the poor, soaring inflation, high unemployment, bribes, money laundering, nepotism, and government ministers and bureaucrats were bogged down in numerous scandals that led to wide protests in the country, further sparked by a 30% quota in jobs for the families of freedom fighters of the 1971 liberation war. Suppression of dissent and arrests of human rights activists, opposition, and intellectuals had grown manifold. Initially, the students led peaceful demonstrations and strikes, but Hasina’s addressing students as ‘Razakars’ ignited violence to a grave end.
The Awami League’s armed wing, Bangladesh Chhatra League, attacked protestors with weapons, further escalating and aggravating violent protests. With no support from the powerful army, the closure of all educational institutions, the total non-cooperation movement by the population, over 400 killings, and the long march of thousands of protestors to Hasina’s official residence in Dacca, she was forced to flee to India on 5 August 2024. Hasina blames the opposition BNP, Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) fundamentalists, Mohajirs, and Razakars, besides some foreign countries, including China, the US, and Pakistan.
The ISI brigadier at the Pakistani High Commission in Dacca is believed to have distributed money to student leaders, fundamentalists, and dissidents, exposing the country’s poor intelligence and internal security management. This, in turn, has led to massive atrocities, including rapes and killings of Hindus, as well as the burning of their temples and houses, instilling a fear-based psychosis that has led to illegal escape to India. An interim caretaking government under Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus accepting the role of chief advisor, who is cool towards India and hostile towards Hasina but considered close to the US and EU, with the support of the powerful army, has been formed with a mix of student leaders, bureaucrats, and technocrats as advisors with much anger over India sheltering Hasina.
In October 2006, Yunus and Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to foster economic and social development. He has won several other awards, including the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the World Food Prize, and the Sydney Peace Prize. Sheikh Hasina removed him from Grameen Bank over allegations of violations of labor law, corruption, and money laundering and launched a series of court cases against him. Yusuf carries it in his heart, and with sheltering Hasina, Yusuf’s relations with Modi are less sweet and more sour.
Like Pakistan, the military has ruled Bangladesh often, but it remains to be seen whether it will hand over full authority to Yunus. Long political uncertainty, strikes, and military curfews have slowed down the economy and garment production, leaving Bangladesh in a dire situation as it seeks economic bailouts from the US, IMF, EU, China, and oil-rich Muslim countries in the Middle East. Over the past six months, Yusuf’s interim government has struggled to understand the country’s internal and external crises, leading to a sudden shift towards closer ties with its erstwhile adversary, Pakistan. Top-level military and civil officials and delegations are working on numerous joint military and civil development projects, trade, and commerce, much to the discomfort of India and other South Asian countries.
Why Is Bangladesh Again Leaning Towards Pakistan?
Bangladesh celebrated the 53rd anniversary of its liberation from Pakistan on 16 Dec 2024. The day was also celebrated as Vijay Diwas at Fort William, Kolkata (now renamed as Vijay Durg), and saw a Bangladeshi delegation, including Mukti Joddhas, who took part in the 1971 Liberation War and nostalgically recounted their memories of East Pakistan becoming liberated Bangladesh. Along the international border (IB), the security forces (SFs) deployed on both sides of the IB greeted each other.
But sadly, with the obliteration of statues of the country’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, all over the country, the ousting of the AL popular leader, and Mujib’s daughter from power. Though, as desired by Bangladesh, Pakistan has never apologized for atrocities committed on its East Pakistani Bengali brethren, the relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved over the decades. Sheikh Hasina and Imran Khan, who were neighbors until December 1971, were known to exchange pleasantries to improve bilateral relations.
Many JeI fundamentalists in both Pakistan and Bangladesh are spreading rumors that the 1971 War that Pakistan lost against India was an Indian conspiracy to divide Pakistan. It is surprising that Bangladesh, which had previously demanded an apology from Pakistan for war crimes, rapes, and genocides, now believes that a shared religious bond can bring two countries closer, despite their cultural and linguistic differences.
In erstwhile East Pakistan, Urdu was imposed as the national language of Pakistan in the 1952 Language Movement, leading to the revolt and liberation of Bangladesh in December 1971. Surprisingly, Urdu resonated in Bengali-speaking Bangladesh on Jinnah’s death anniversary, 11 September 2024, after the ouster of Hasina!
Thousands of Hindus are protesting in Bangladesh, demanding an end to attacks on minorities, the death and destruction of their temples and properties, and human rights violations that are going on unabated despite Chief Advisor Yunus’s assurances. According to the Times of India (TOI) dated 15 September 2024, the recent attacks on Hindus who escaped religious violence in Bangladesh in the past and are struggling to obtain legal recognition in India.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is the only hope that keeps them going in these shelter homes. Many Bangladeshi Hindus agitate, wanting India to open its borders for Bangladeshi Hindus to migrate to India. With recent political upheavals in Bangladesh and so in the past, there has been a large influx of illegal immigrants to India in recent decades adversely affecting our economic, social, and security implications. The Sufi shrines are also being attacked in Bangladesh, as they are contrary to fundamentalists’ practices, while Yusuf’s interim government states its commitment to protect the minorities, while the speed of normalcy returning is slow and painful.
Until 1947, India and Pakistan were one country under British India. Similarly, until 1971, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis shared the same citizenship under British India. Due to their Muslim heritage and past association, many Bangladeshis still support Pakistan. With time, what once divided the country in 1971 is now drawing them closer together. Therefore, while there may not be permanent friendships, there are certainly lasting interests. Pakistan has announced a new visa policy under which many countries, including Bangladesh, BUT NOT India, will be able to travel to Pakistan without a visa fee.
It has been often seen that whenever there is a cricket or hockey match between India and Pakistan, Bangladeshis invariably cheer for the Pakistani team and vice versa. But many Pakistanis on social media have often rejected the union of Bangladesh and Pakistan, and so have Bangladeshis, except the minuscule JeI, Mohajirs, and Razakars residing on both sides. It is the mindset of the few Pakistanis doing such wishful thinking. Additionally, Pakistanis should reflect on their actions in Baluchistan—East Pakistan, such as the recurrence of rapes and the genocide of the Baluchi people—rather than drawing lessons from the dismemberment of 1971. Most Pakistanis don’t have an emotional attachment to Bangladesh. It is just another country that used to be part of us, post-partition, and that’s all. With friendly, economically, and militarily powerful secular India in between, Bangladesh’s need for Pakistan is over. Some Pakistanis have expressed this sentiment on social media.
‘Pakistan regrets the way East Pakistan got separated from West Pakistan. We regret the way corrupt rulers of West Pakistan treated them and pushed them against the wall. We regret that our evil rulers denied their democratic rights to rule in 1971 when they won elections under the constitution of Pakistan. We forced them to secede from us. The worst of all was the unnecessary bloodshed that occurred in East Pakistan.
The divorce between East and Pakistan was inevitable. But it turned out to be ugly, which resulted in the humiliating surrender in front of our archrival. All this would never have happened had we learned to respect the democratic right of our East Pakistani brethren.’
Both countries are financially down, and to revive the economy, they have vast trade potential, while Pakistan is closer to China in the new equation, China, also having favorable relations with Bangladesh, would try to bring it to its fold to surround and isolate India and use Bangladesh as a springboard as a wedge in the narrow, strategically very vulnerable Siliguri-Chicken neck corridor and create restlessness in the northeastern states of India.
Bangladesh Chief Adviser Yunus and Pakistan PM Sharif met during the D-8 Summit in Cairo on 20 December 2024 and discussed the revival of the SAARC and called for strengthening the strategic relationship between both countries.
With Trump becoming the US president, the US administration looks upon Pakistan suspiciously due to its closer relations with China and Iran, and Bangladesh joining in hands won’t please the new US administration that will be at the top of PM Modi’s agenda in the forthcoming meet.
Summing Up
It is too early to comprehend the future of Bangladesh. The world is closely observing Bangladesh’s trajectory. Unlike India, the democracies in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar have not matured. A large poor population, lack of health and educational facilities, job opportunities, corruption, and poverty alleviation are the major issues that need priority attention. Many Pakistanis understand and hold the belief that Bangladesh and Pakistan will never reunite as a single nation. Indeed, a significant number of individuals express remorse over the breakup, particularly the circumstances surrounding it.
Some newspapers have reported that Trump left instructions to obliterate Iran if it kills him. Iran has stated that Trump wants to take over Gaza and wipe out Palestinians, thus raising anger and protests in the Muslim world. To eradicate anti-Christian prejudice, Trump intends to primarily target Muslim nations such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran, potentially encircling India and jeopardizing the geo-strategic balance in South Asia.
India and Bangladesh are close strategic partners in counterterrorism, while both share a long international and maritime border and exclusive economic zones. Although some disputes remain unresolved, with recent political changes in Bangladesh, relations between the two countries have been characterized as friendly but not warm. Trade, tourism, sharing of power, and transportation of diesel to Bangladesh by pipeline from India; operation of to-and-fro bus and train services; and cultural and student exchanges have assured mutual dependency. India and Bangladesh share bonds of history, language, culture, and a multitude of other commonalities. The excellent bilateral ties reflect an all-encompassing partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding that goes far beyond a strategic partnership. The partnership has strengthened, matured, and evolved as a model for bilateral relations for the entire region and beyond. However, recent events are overshadowing the warm relations, necessitating India to maintain a vigilant stance.
The recent torching and destruction of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s house in Dhan Mandi by the frenzied mob has further strained deteriorating relations between Delhi and Dhaka. The turmoil against Hasina, though an internal matter of the country, was so emotionally violent that the younger generation of the Bengalis, born much after the liberation of East Pakistan from the clutches of the West Pakistan-dominated army and government, responsible for the genocide of East Pakistan’s Bengali population, suddenly, after the fall of Hasina’s government, found a return to old connectivity.
Notwithstanding the above, realistically not many intellectuals, statesmen, politicians, strategic thinkers, and economists feel that the way Bangladesh was created out of hatred and genocide and parted away once forever could ever be one again with Pakistan, as the wounds of hatred and discard by Punjabi-dominated West Pakistan on Bengali-dominated East Pakistan are too deep to heal, upsetting geopolitical and geostrategic relations and causing instability in South Asia! Also, unlike two Vietnams or Germanys, they are culturally and linguistically far apart, and it is in the interest of South Asia that they have positive and close mutually beneficial relations as neighboring countries for peace, prosperity, security, and the eradication of malnutrition, illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty from South Asia.