Experts brief parliamentary panel on Pakistan-China inroads in Bangladesh

One of the experts is learnt to have told the panel that China is making headways in Bangladesh through infrastructure development such as ports and air bases and that the nexus between Pakistan and Bangladesh is moving ahead, it is learnt.

Another expert said that the role of the media in cementing relations between the two countries is crucial and in the recent past, the media has played a negative role. One expert said that India needs to grasp the reality of the new power structure in Bangladesh and move ahead.

The panel was also told that the need of the hour was to engage with the government led by Muhammad Yunus through track-II diplomacy. The experts also said that India needs to create a distinction between the way it views Pakistan and Bangladesh and the two countries shouldn’t be put in the same category.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Tharoor said: “It was not discussed formally… But we heard…the number of people coming from Bangladesh has reduced.”

Other members of the committee are: BJP’s Arun Govil and Naveen Jindal, Congress’s Deepender Hooda and Rajeev Shukla, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and Sagarika Ghose, AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi and CPM’s John Brittas.