The subcontinent
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, JNU, New Delhi
India's claim for credit for the creation of Bangladesh can neither be questioned, nor doubted. Although the division of Pakistan into two parts was unbearable for Pakistani leadership initially, Islamabad did come to live with the reality of Bangladesh existing as a sovereign nation. The fact that as a smaller country it could concentrate on its economic and other issues better was realised in due course in Pakistan and Islamabad began to worry less about loss of East Pakistan and focused on its developmental activities. India over the years has made Bangladesh an opponent as much as Pakistan is treated as an enemy. Bangladesh became a sovereign state during the Congress regime in India. As India claims credit for the birth of Bangladesh now, it opens up a few issues regarding its responsibilities and its attitude to the concept of independence. As the chief architect of the creation of Bangladesh, India also has to shoulder the chief responsibility to assist it to become a strong nation as well by enhancing its economic and security environment. The world perhaps expected that India would even share its scientific facilities with Bangladesh. Instead of helping Bangladesh, unfortunately, New Delhi behaves quite indifferently.
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