Khaleda leaving Bangla is good for India

JYOTI MALHOTRA

New Delhi, April 17, 2007 : A newly pragmatic India believes that the reported agreement between top Bangladeshi leader Khaleda Zia and the army-backed government to leave the country and live in Saudi Arabia, will go a long way in cleansing life and politics in Bangladesh.

Dhaka has been rife with rumours for the last few weeks over a deal between Khaleda, former prime minister and BNP leader, and the army-backed government, which would let her leave the country in exchange for her life and the lives of her two sons, Tarique and Arafat.

Tarique was arrested recently on charges of corruption and early on Monday morning, the police swooped down on Arafat, when he was at his mother’s home in the Dhaka Cantonment.

Arafat was, however, soon released after Khaleda reportedly agreed to leave Bangladesh for Saudi Arabia, along with her son. It is now being said that Tarique will also follow suit some time later.

It was earlier being said that the army was not allowing Tarique to leave with his mother, but it seems that a compromise now seems to have been reached.

According to the `Daily Star’ newspaper in Bangladesh, only visa formalities for Saudi Arabia remain to be completed. Khaleda will initially perform the `umrah’ for about a month, after which other details will be finalized. The message has already been conveyed to the Saudi ambassador in Dhaka, the `Daily Star’ reported.

Over the last few weeks, India has, interestingly, shifted from an outright support of Awami League leader Sheikh Hasina, to adopting a much more pragmatic approach in Bangladesh.

The argument is, if the army-backed government in Dhaka can deliver on Indian insurgents who have been camping in Bangladesh for the last many years, including the senior leadership of the ULFA, New Delhi will clearly be able to do business with Dhaka.

India’s decision to improve connectivity in transport as well as give significant concessions for Bangladesh goods is in keeping with this pragmatic approach.

New Delhi believes that the losses from trade will be minimal, while the gains from cooperation in insurgency, allowing Indian companies to invest and trade, as well as from connectivity are enormous.

However, the Indian government is also somewhat concerned that the army-backed government is showing no signs of holding elections in a hurry, in fact, has allowed murder and extortion charges against Hasina to be filed.

Hasina is currently out of the country in the US, and although she has said that she will be back next week, it is believed that the Fakhruddin Ahmad government is in no mood to allow her to return for the moment.

Indian analysts, of course, feel that military-guided democracy is of course not such a good thing, but point out that if it is going to stay, then it may be best for New Delhi to be on a firm footing with such a regime.

ENDS