Re-inventing friendship with India

WITH the stunning electoral victory, India's secularist Congress-led UPA is back in power. We may see it as an opportunity to pursue our interests with the incumbent Indian government in continuation, and are upbeat on the prospect of realising the same. We should do our part to woo our next door neighbour into doing what it ought to.
We must do unto India what we want to have her do unto us. We should address the factors that have, putatively, irritated India. It is most ironical to not yet have in place a relation of mutual trust between our two states, despite the fact that India, like a friend in need, stood by us during our war of independence in 1971.
Given her historical tie with us, it is only natural to expect India to be way more responsive to our problems than we saw she has been. Let us scratch our heads over what held her back. It is more than time we resort to everything it takes to remove all suspicion creeping into our bilateral relation, if only for our larger national interest. Of course, India should do the same.
One, however, has to trace down the less-than-optimal, mutually beneficial Indo-Bangladesh relation to our disquieting past. With the unfortunate, bloody change-over in 1975, it was sought to turn back the wheel of our secular, democratic march forward, and to bring about a paradigm shift in our political existence and relation with India.
Those well conversant with the topsy-turvy forced by the powers that be at that time would affirm that actions were taken that might have estranged India. There was re-emergence of religion-based politics that was banned after our independence. Thanks to the then government's patronisation of Islamic fundamentalism, the secularist politics was mauled/battered, and thrown by the wayside.
In an unimaginable turn of events, the nation was split into two by floating/invoking "Bangladeshi nationalism" as opposed to "Bengali nationalism" that was indeed the mantra of our independent nationhood. In the changed ambience, the defeated anti-liberation elements reorganised and entrenched themselves in Bangladesh.
In fact, the neo-nationalism had its sustenance feeding on covert malice to India. As it transpired from the evolving aspect of neo-nationalism, the ruling clique was all set to whip up anti-India sentiments.
It was, increasingly, manifest that the ultra-rightist forces defeated in 1971 could not forget the ignominy of defeat. In their frantic bid for revenge, they, albeit from behind the scenes, contributed to straining our relation with India. And, tit-for-tat, the issues of Farakka and the CHT insurgency arose.
Farakka gave birth to the troubling Ganges water sharing dispute, which remained unresolved until a land-mark accord was signed between 1996 AL government and India. Similarly, the long drawn-out CHT insurgency, in spite of claiming many lives, was kept burning until it was settled by the last AL government through a historical peace accord with the PCJS.
The 1996-2001 AL government was acclaimed for the bold steps to have the two intractable looking issues resolved, by taking India on board. Much the same way, we have to now again win the trust of India.
Particularly, the ongoing 4-phase re-enquiry into the buried case of 10 truck load-of-arms-and-ammo haul in Chittagong is expected to open up a Pandora's Box, as it is suspected that the consignment of arms was to be routed through Bangladesh to Ulfa (United Liberation Front of Assam). It is alleged that some individuals in the then government diverted the case by causing a flawed investigation report to be submitted by the concerned enquiry officers.
Now, with some top ex-NSI officers taken into custody, it is widely apprehended that some top brass in the then regime might come under scrutiny, based on information elicited. It seems unlikely that the alleged intelligence functionaries would have dared to risk their necks without high level government backing.
It is argued that the huge cargo of seized arms and ammo was not consigned for any terror outfit within Bangladesh, as we are not aware of any terror group that may have either expertise or extensive network to consume/use such a large quantum of sophisticated, lethal arms.
We must do the needful to establish strong understanding. If the arms mystery is unraveled, and its behind-the-scene backers unmasked, it would serve as a concrete evidence of our good will and help win back India's confidence to help resolve our outstanding issues.

Md. Ali Akbar is a Deputy Secretary to the Government.