India has considered Sheikh Hasina a close friend in a neighbourhood where its army confronts both Pakistan and China along hostile, disputed borders…reports Asian Lite News
India has been closely monitoring the developments in Bangladesh and is keeping a close watch. As Sheikh Hasina’s flight landed in Hindon near Delhi, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar held consultations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian government has issued a “high alert” along its border with Bangladesh, according to reports. India had already cautioned its citizens to avoid travelling to Bangladesh until further notice.
India has always considered Sheikh Hasina a close friend in a neighbourhood where its army confronts both Pakistan and China along hostile, disputed borders. India shares a long border with Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is also crucial to the security of India’s remote northeastern states, where insurgent groups used to be active. They often took sanctuary in Bangladesh, which shares a porous border with some of these states. On Hasina’s watch, India’s northeastern border was relatively calm because she had not allowed Bangladesh to be used by insurgent groups.
Trade between India and Bangladesh will also be significantly impacted, with business activities at Petrapole, the largest land port in India and South Asia, nearly coming to a halt.
Sheikh Hasina had ably balanced ties with both India and China. During her tenure, in all its developmental partnership with China, Bangladesh had been heedful about India’s interests.
India had acted like a mediator between Bangladesh and the Western countries, who were unhappy with the elections held in Bangladesh in January, in which Hasina was re-elected for a fourth term. India had told the US that sidelining Bangladesh would mean giving China a chance to participate in Bangladesh’s development and thereby a stake in its matters, which was neither good for India nor the US.
With the prevailing chaos and changed situation, India is bound to be apprehensive about its relationship with Bangladesh.
While issues like river water management still need to be sorted out, India-Bangladesh has seen wide-ranging collaboration on many other issues in the last 10 years. A substantive bilateral partnership in trade and commerce, people-to-people ties, defence, and infrastructure were the hallmarks in the golden era of Delhi-Dhaka ties.
As India prepares to tackle the sudden volatility and turmoil in its neighbourhood, it will also be working towards a friendly government in Dhaka. At the same time, India will keep a lookout for other nations meddling in the crisis.
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All-party meeting on Bangladesh unrest
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Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi along with other leaders from other parties attended the all-party meeting convened by the central government on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing situation in Bangladesh.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief the meeting regarding the situation. The meeting is scheduled to be held today morning, as per official sources.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned from her post on Monday in the wake of mounting protests and landed at the Hindon Air Base near New Delhi in a C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft.
At least 135 people were killed in Bangladesh on Monday during unrest with police firings, mob beatings, and arson across the country, according to Dhaka Tribune.
Prothom Alo, citing Dhaka Medical College Hospital sources, reported that 500 people were brought to the hospital with various injuries including gunshot wounds. 70 of them have been admitted to hospital.
After reports surfaced that Sheikh Hasina had departed from Bangladesh, people took to the streets to celebrate, Dhaka Tribune reported.
The Bangladesh protests majorly by students demanded an end to a quota system for government jobs and had grown into an uprising against Hasina and her ruling Awami League party. At least 95 people, including at least 14 police officers, died and hundreds of people were injured in clashes in Dhaka on Sunday, local media outlet Prothom Alo reported.
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Yunus may head interim govt
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Leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement have proposed an interim government led by Nobel Laureate Dr Muhammad Yunus, in a bid to address Bangladesh’s ongoing challenge, Dhaka Tribune reported.
This announcement was made in a video message released early hours of Tuesday by key student leaders Nahid Islam, Asif Mahmud, and Abu Bakar Mazumdar.
Earlier on Monday night, Nahid had announced that an outline for an interim government would be formulated within the next 24 hours, as per Dhaka Tribune.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin on Monday night gave his nod to form an interim government to run the country.
Following this, a meeting was held at Bangabhaban, the presidential palace, to address the country’s deteriorating law and order situation. Attendees included the chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, political party leaders, and civil society members.