Look at the big picture

That Morshed Khan’s speech was covered with layers of innuendo goes without saying. I have heard him before and found his rhetoric getting the better of him, particularly when he departs from the prepared text. He is indiscreet but not devious. Like most foreign ministers, he gives too much importance to what appears in the press. Even otherwise, a small nation tends to believe that an editorial or article appearing in the press of a big country reflects that government’s thinking. (Had the Indian press been so clued in, it would have got at least the Lok Sabha election results right). Khaleda provided me with a clipping of a Kolkata paper, as if its remark about ‘‘Khaleda’s slaying fields,’’ was at the instance of the Government of India.

Morshed Khan also had in mind an article from a paper in southern India when he said: ‘‘Stop talking through the media but talk straight to us.’’ The article had adumbrated the thesis that India should ‘‘insist on positive political change within the neighbourhood’’ and ‘‘develop a pro-active policy to encourage internal political change.’’ The opinion was that of the writer who was probably impressed by America’s intervention in the affairs of other countries to protect what it characterised the sovereignty of the people. I do not think that our foreign office shares that view. The India of Gandhi and Nehru can never preach imperialism. Still, the article was considered as gospel truth by the Bangladesh government. It suspected that New Delhi was testing the waters through the media.

It is unfortunate that the government in Dhaka should think so. It is probably too haunted, too troubled by the fact that it has failed to find out, even after one month, who tried to kill Hasina in an attack which resulted in 18 deaths. On the other hand, New Delhi’s reaction was amateurish and rash. Instead of administering threats, India should place before the world facts and figures to show Bangladesh’s complicity in sheltering various terrorist organisations operating against India.

The SAARC has already passed a resolution for a common endeavour to root out terrorism from the region. Bangladesh, if involved, will be exposed. Morshed has also said: ‘‘The list of insurgent camps from their side increases at every meeting between us. But they (meaning India) have not been able to provide a single telephone number or address of these camps. On the other hand, we have given phone and fax numbers and addresses of Bangladeshi insurgent groups like Bangabhumi Andolan, who are in India, and criminals who are hosted by some groups there. But they have not done anything about it.’’

Bangladesh High Commissioner Veena Sikri was present at the meeting of journalists; so was Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, much to her embarrassment. I think she overreacted and had India’s response blown out of proportion. Morshed’s speech was bad in parts but if you took the speech in its entirety it was not that irritating from India’s point of view. He also said a lot of things which showed Bangladesh’s keenness to maintain good relations with India. I am reminded of National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit’s reaction when he was India’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka. I was staying with him. I gave him a gist of the then president, Jayawardene’s, interview in which he had accused India of constantly sending arms to the LTTE after having trained them. He said once you stopped giving them shelter and arms, Colombo’s problems would be over. Dixit immediately sent a telegram to New Delhi. India’s attitude suddenly became intractable, the fallout of which was not good for us.

By all means, we should ask Bangladesh for an explanation for the tirade of its foreign minister. We should also bring to its government’s notice, if we have not already done so, a leading Bangladeshi daily’s on-the-spot report on madrassas running the countrywide Islamic militant network. But by threatening to advise the Tatas not to go to Bangladesh with an investment of $2 billion, we would be playing into the hands of fundamentalists who are making inroads in the name of religion in a country where people are poor and uneducated. Economic development will save Bangladesh from fanatics and terrorists who are reportedly influenced by Al-Qaeda’s philosophy.

Bangladesh is the country we helped during its liberation struggle. We had the best of credentials to have had a lasting, friendly relationship with the country. We have messed up all that. Now the day is with the anti-liberation elements, helped by the peeved Pakistani establishment. They circulate anti-India canards to foul the atmosphere. Rightly, we withdrew our troops within weeks of Pakistan’s surrender. But where we committed the mistake was when we washed our hands off the country altogether. The promise to dovetail their development plans with our needs was abandoned the moment we heard the anti-India talk. Let us not commit the same mistake now. The Bangladesh government may be acting difficult but not its people who include the intelligentsia, freedom fighters and their children. They want close relations with India. Our first step should be to allow the import of Bangladeshi goods without duties.