India’s improving Bangla relations

Out from the cold storage

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will breathe a little easy on September 6^th and 7^th. He will be on a state visit to Bangladesh, away from heat of the anti corruption movement back home. Prime Minister Singh’s visit is closely watched by many in India and Bangladesh (more closely by Bangladesh media). After a long period of hostile and unfriendly governments in Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has come as a welcome change. Relationships between the two countries have improved significantly with a state visit by Prime Minister Hasina in early 2010. The current visit by India is expected to further strengthen the relationship.

After the first military coup in Bangladesh which eliminated the entire family of its first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rehman (from which Sheikh Hasina escaped), India lost interest in its neighbour. Domestic issues, Pakistan and an escalating cold war kept India busy. Lack of active Indian interest and successive regimes hostile to India were used by China and Pakistan to nurture insurgency in North Eastern states of India. Matter got worse with thousands of Bangladeshis migrating illegally into India for economic reasons. In effect India Bangladesh relations were strained.

Off late it has dawned upon India to actively involve Bangladesh and forge a mutually beneficial relationship. India sees a great prospect of connecting its North East with rest of the country by means of transit corridors. Currently it is extremely difficult to connect its North East through the existing Siliguri corridor (also known as ‘chicken neck’), which is barely 20 km wide at some points. For people living in India’s North East, transportation is a major issue and is often expensive. Air travel is the only means to travel quickly. Other critical matters like disaster management, health services, food supply, etc proves to be difficult owing to long distances to be covered and wastage in transit.

Bring it to the table

With Bangladesh doing its bit to curb anti India activities on its soil, India wants extend the deal and include infrastructure to connect to its remote region. India and Bangladesh together have identified transit corridors which will help not just India and Bangladesh, but Nepal and Bhutan too will be able to make use of transit corridors to connect to the ports in Bangladesh. India has extended a credit line worth $ 1 billion on concessional terms to implement the project.

Let the barbed wire not stop the dove

India and Bangladesh are also working hard to resolve their border issues. The two countries share the longest international border in the world (4,100 km) and also have a unique situation of enclaves and counter enclaves in each other’s territories. A solution is expected to be arrived at before Prime Minister Singh visits Dhaka early next month. Available information suggest at a possible land swap to firm up the border. This will be a first complete border settlement case for India.

One of the most sensitive issues between India and Bangladesh was of shooting of illegal migrants (most of them are Bangladeshis). India’s Border Security Force (BSF) killed 33 Bangladeshis in 2010, while they were crossing over illegally into India. This had not gone down well with the government and common man in Bangladesh. Killing of Felani, a teenage girl by the BSF was widely criticised by Bangladesh and international media and human rights agencies. A meeting between home ministers of the two countries has resolved the issue with India promising not to shoot any one crossing the border.

On the trade front India and Bangladesh did trade worth $ 2.6 billion, which is close to 0.58% of India’s total trade. This can definitely be improved. Prime Minister Singh should take this opportunity to foster closer business ties with Bangladesh, offering greater private investment in the country. Taking advantage of India’s strengths in information technology, companies like TCS and Infosys should be encouraged to set shops in Bangladesh. Active involvement in Bangladesh’s economy will ally fears of a sell off to India. India and Bangladesh should eventually move towards a free trade agreement where there is no list of negative trade items.

For all this to happen, both countries should upgrade their surface transport. A road or train trip to Dhaka from Indian state of West Bengal can take as long at 12 hours, to cover 400 km. To ensure more people to people contact, a convenient transport system is very important. A swift system will ensure more cross border movement and hence closer cultural ties. India and Bangladesh share a lot in common, from Rabindra Nath Taogre who wrote the national anthem of both countries to a common language (in West Bengal) to culinary habits and of course the love for cricket. Bringing the two countries closer will not be difficult provided India plays its cards wisely.