Behind the camouflage

Lately, Pakistan-Bangladesh relations have been in the news, mostly for negative reasons, and very sparsely for the positive ones.

Let's begin with the souring, embarrassing and sensibility-hurting incidents which have been quite a handful. And, then we try to make sense of some of the positive vibes topped up by a sense of incredulity at the receiving end, what with their rarity.

In the latest incident, one saw Pak authorities' attempted whipping of a diplomatic row over a reported remark by Bangladesh's Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu in New Delhi. This was on the troubled Baluchistan province of Pakistan. What apparently stirred the hornet's nest was our Information Minister's affirmation of support for Modi's critique on Pakistan's human rights violations in Baluchistan. It predictably irked the foreign ministry in Islamabad in the context of Pakistan's relations with India having taken a dip over Kashmir and the Indian prime minister's riposte against Pakistan in his Independence Day speech without so much as naming the country.  

In today's highly communicative world, countries read like open books;  there is no point pulling the wool over the eyes of scrutinising observers intent on fathoming the depths of an entrenched crisis. It is time pro forma diplomatic practices are updated in order to be compatible with the contemporary human rights concerns. The idea is to enable a country in focus for all the wrong reasons to evolve a solution-oriented approach to an explosive situation.

 Without recourse to a holier-than-thou posturing, countries need to wake up to a hard truth: The line between a genuine expression of concern and the allegation of interference in the internal affairs of a country is fast disappearing. Also, we have to recognise that meddling in the internal matters of a country by another comes in different hues and shapes, some in crude, others in subtle forms.

The foreign ministry in Islamabad called the Bangladesh High Commissioner Tarik Ahsan over to the office of the Director General for South Asia and Saarc to convey Pakistan's strong reactions to the Bangladesh minister's comment. Our foreign ministry officials, with palpable diplomatic finesse, one may add, said that they had no position on the information minister's comment. This has been dove-tailed to a strong reiteration that just as it is an unequivocal policy of the Bangladesh government not to meddle in another country's affairs, so also it is avowedly resentful of other country's interference in her internal matters.

In an intriguing but emotionally serious vein, let's turn to the gist of a Prothom Alo Tokyo correspondent, Manjurul Huq's opinion piece, published recently. It centred around Pakistan Embassy having organised a condolence meeting in memory of the victims, in this case the Japenese, who lost their lives in the terrorist carnage at Holey Artisan restaurant in Dhaka on July 1.

Manjur reported that the Japanese media adopted a low-key approach to the programme. To them perhaps, and to many others, it betrayed a lack of conviction under a thin veil of courtesy, even perhaps perceived propriety. Japan, our largest development partner, which has emphatically assured us of continuing support could not have been taken for a ride.

Certain quarters in Pakistan may like to draw a false sense of vindication, even deja vu that Bangladesh, after all, does not appear to be immune to a diabolic terror attack.

The press in Bangladesh has never failed to grieve over the substantial losses of lives sustained in Pakistan through terror attacks, often spearheaded by suicide bombers. Is not this glossed over?

Mesbaul Huq, who captained the Pakistan cricket team to a series leveler with England, attaining the top slot in Test rankings, has done a bit of advocacy for the Bangladesh cricket side. He said if England did not play in Bangladesh, it might impact adversely on the country's cricketing future.

He is speaking from Pakistan's own experience which has a value of its own. But where he is being a little presumptive is when he is crystal-ball gazing into Bangladesh's cricket future.

Pakistan, for reasons well-known, engages itself in denunciatory statements against Bangladesh every time death penalty is executed in case of a person found guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity in 1971.

While Pakistan is pathologically opposed to it, Turkey in the meanwhile, has changed its stance on the issue by 180 degrees. 

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.