New Delhi: Ties with India are based on “give and take”, while China is a “partner” in Bangladesh’s development, the country’s army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman said in an interview on Wednesday.
Speaking to the Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo, Zaman said Dhaka would not take any action inimical to New Delhi’s strategic interests as India was an “important neighbour”, but emphasised that ties needed to be based on “fairness”.
“We are dependent on India in many ways. India is also benefiting from us. A lot of their people are working in Bangladesh, both formally and informally. Many people from this country go to India for medical treatment. We buy many products from them. So, India has a great interest in the stability of Bangladesh. It is a give-and-take relationship,” Zaman said.
The Bangladesh army chief added that while countries try to gain from each other, good relations should be based only on equity. “People should not think that India is dominating Bangladesh or doing something that is against our interests,” he said.
This was Zaman’s first interview since the ouster of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who fled to India on 5 August and remains in New Delhi.
Hasina left the country following two-month-long student-led demonstrations against a controversial quota system, which soon spiralled into a call for her resignation. Hasina’s suppression of the protests resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 people, making it the bloodiest period in the country’s history since its 1971 independence.
Chill in ties
Ties with Bangladesh’s interim government, under chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, have been cold after Hasina took refuge in Delhi.
Last week, Yunus’ administration gave India a formal notice requesting Hasina’s extradition to face trial at the International Crimes Tribunal in Dhaka. The Nobel laureate has also said that New Delhi keeps peddling a “false” narrative that minorities were being attacked in Bangladesh.
India has maintained it was the interim government’s responsibility to ensure the welfare of Hindus and all minorities in Bangladesh, a stance which was communicated to Yunus by foreign secretary Vikram Misri during his visit to Dhaka earlier this month.
Zaman also made it clear that the new administration would not encourage rebel groups from India’s northeast. Under Hasina, the government of Bangladesh took firm action against these groups from India, who had received administrative support from previous governments.
“When I look at their interests, they will also look at my interests with equal importance. There will be no instability in our Chittagong Hill Tracts. Stability will not be destroyed on the Myanmar border. They will not kill our people on the border. We will get a fair share of water. There is no problem in that,” said Zaman when pressed on support to Indian rebel groups.
China a ‘partner in development’
In the interview, Zaman referred to China as a “development partner” to Dhaka, and highlighted the use of Chinese weapons in their armed forces.
“Friendship with all, no hostility with anyone… Our foreign policy is excellent. We have to move forward with balance. China is our development partner. They have a lot of investment in Bangladesh. So, China is very important to us. We are using many Chinese weapons. The air force is using it. The navy is using it. Their weapons are relatively cheap,” Zaman said.
The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen in an opinion piece published by the Daily Star Wednesday also made it clear that Beijing would support Dhaka’s “independent foreign policy”.
Yao said Beijing supported Dhaka’s push to join the BRICS regional grouping as a partner country, and also praised its role in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMTSEC).
source : theprint