Final September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina as a particular visitor on the margins of the G20 Summit in New Delhi. It was a gesture of heat in direction of a neighbour that India considered as an particularly shut accomplice.
Now, a yr later, that proximity to Hasina has was a headache for India. Earlier this month, scholar protests forced Hasina out of energy after 15 years. Hasina fled to India.
And weeks after Hasina’s overthrow, anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh stays excessive — seen in the whole lot from rising requires New Delhi to extradite Hasina to accusations that India is utilizing visas and water alike to focus on its neighbour.
Right here’s a breakdown of all that’s ailing relations between the 2 international locations:
Opposition calls for for Hasina’s extradition
Hasina fled Bangladesh on August 5 by army helicopter and landed at a army base near New Delhi, the place she was greeted by India’s Nationwide Safety Adviser Ajit Doval. She is since believed to have been residing in and across the Indian capital.
However requires Hasina’s extradition again to Bangladesh are rising.
On Monday, the overall secretary of the principle opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, informed Indian media that Hasina should be extradited and tried in Bangladesh. Muhammed Quader, the chairman of the Jatiya Occasion, echoed this demand on the identical day. Quader was the opposition chief of the Bangladesh parliament dissolved on August 6.
“India ought to assist Bangladesh search accountability from her as she has evidently executed nice deal of hurt to Bangladesh,” Alamgir was quoted as saying by Indian media. A slew of authorized circumstances, together with murder probes, face Hasina.
Final week, Bangladesh’s interim authorities beneath Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus cancelled Hasina’s diplomatic visa. With out that, it’s unclear how lengthy Hasina can legally keep in India. The Indian authorities has not commented on the problem.
Ali Riaz, professor and political scientist at Illinois State College, mentioned that individuals in Bangladesh had been searching for Hasina’s extradition to carry her accountable for alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings that befell in Bangladesh throughout her 15 years of rule.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) paramilitary drive was sanctioned by the United Nations for its involvement within the killings and disappearances.
Since Hasina rose to the highest job in 2009, “over 600 disappearances” had been dedicated by safety forces, in line with Human Rights Watch final yr.
Is India liable for the floods in Bangladesh?
Bangladesh, alongside components of northeast India together with Tripura, Assam and Meghalaya skilled a downpour of heavy rainfall through the month of August.
Bangladesh’s Ministry of Catastrophe Administration and Reduction mentioned on August 23 that roughly 190,000 individuals had been taken to emergency aid shelters. Of Bangladesh’s 64 districts, 11 had been hit by the flooding, the ministry mentioned. More than one million people have been reduce off from the remainder of the nation by the flooding.
On Bangladeshi our on-line world, nonetheless, rumours began circulating that the floods had been brought on by India’s deliberate opening of the Dumbur Dam, which is upstream of the Gumti River in India’s Tripura State. The Gumti River flows from India to Bangladesh. There isn’t a proof to this point to again this assertion.
India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs launched a press release on August 22, saying that the flooding was from extreme rain and water from massive catchments downstream of the dam. “We stay dedicated to resolving points and mutual considerations in water sources and river water administration by bilateral consultations and technical discussions,” mentioned the assertion. There are 54 transboundary rivers between India and Bangladesh.
Earlier this week, Pranay Verma, India’s excessive commissioner to Bangladesh, informed Yunus that the water from the dam was “launched mechanically” as a result of elevated ranges.
Officers at Bangladesh’s Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre in Bangladesh have, nonetheless, informed Al Jazeera that in contrast to up to now, India didn’t challenge a warning to its neighbour on the discharge of water. That warning, he added, might have helped stop deaths and destruction.
No matter what what brought about the flooding, many Bangladeshis have been fast in charge India due to previous experiences with water sharing, mentioned Riaz. Bangladesh has lengthy sought entry to extra water from their shared rivers — a pact for one such settlement has been in limbo for greater than a decade, a sore level for Dhaka.
“Beforehand throughout monsoon, we’ve got seen that Bangladesh is inundated with water whereas through the dry season, Bangladesh by no means acquired what they needed,” mentioned Riaz.
What is going on in Indian visa centres in Bangladesh?
Indian visa utility centres (IVACS) remained closed in Dhaka and Sathkira in southwestern Bangladesh on Tuesday.
This was a day after a whole lot of individuals protested in opposition to delays within the processing of their visas. India has scaled again its diplomatic presence in Dhaka amid safety considerations following Hasina’s overthrow. On the protests, individuals demanded that their their passports be returned.
About 1.6 million Bangladeshis visited India in 2023 — the highest vacation spot for the nation’s residents. Tourism and medical remedy rank as the largest causes that draw Bangladeshis to India.
1 Kilometres Lengthy Line Exterior Indian Visa Heart At Asias Largest Mall Jamuna.
The Line Began Inside, Concerned Many Corridores, Then Got here Out facet, Went To Major Highway, It Stored Going, Going And Going 🤣
Who Will Course of Ur Visa Bro?
Majority Of Workers Went Again To India, The… pic.twitter.com/PkXAcbCoOC
— বাংলার ছেলে 🇧🇩 (@iSoumikSaheb) August 26, 2024
Why is the connection between Bangladesh and India troubled?
New Delhi and Dhaka have lengthy shared sturdy diplomatic and commerce relations. The Indian military performed a important function in serving to Bangladesh achieve independence from Pakistan in 1971.
Nevertheless, in latest many years, it has more and more considered Hasina and her secular Awami League social gathering as higher aligned with India’s pursuits. Lots of Hasina’s critics have accused India of attempting to prop up her regime, regardless of mounting proof of undemocratic acts, together with the crushing of dissent, arrests of critics and alleged makes an attempt to control elections.
Riaz mentioned that anger in opposition to India inside Bangladesh was “a mirrored image of the discontent that has been simmering for years over professional points”.
“India’s unqualified assist for Hasina,” he mentioned, meant that it had supported “three fraudulent elections and egregious violations of human rights”.
He cited the instance of former Indian Overseas Secretary Sujatha Singh visiting Bangladesh earlier than the 2014 election to dissuade the Jatiya Occasion from boycotting the polls. “This gave Awami League a lifeline”. Most opposition events boycotted the election, which adopted the arrests of senior BNP leaders, together with its chief, Begum Khaleda Zia.
In the meantime, incidents, after Hasina’s overthrow, of assaults on Bangladeshi Hindus — the nation’s largest minority group — sparked outrage in India. Modi additionally sounded an alarm internationally by discussing the problem with US President Joe Biden.
Spoke to @POTUS @JoeBiden on cellphone at present. We had an in depth change of views on numerous regional and international points, together with the state of affairs in Ukraine. I reiterated India’s full assist for early return of peace and stability.
We additionally mentioned the state of affairs in Bangladesh and…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 26, 2024
Tons of of protesters rallied in Dhaka on August 9 in opposition to violence focusing on the nation’s Hindus, who make up 8 % of the inhabitants. The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council — an umbrella group representing the nation’s non secular minorities — estimated that at the least 52 districts noticed communal violence since Hasina’s resignation.
Yunus, the caretaker prime minister of Bangladesh, known as Modi on August 16 to guarantee him of the protection of Hindus within the nation. “Reiterated India’s assist for a democratic, secure, peaceable and progressive Bangladesh,” the Indian prime minister wrote on X.
Acquired a phone name from Professor Muhammad Yunus, @ChiefAdviserGoB. Exchanged views on the prevailing state of affairs. Reiterated India’s assist for a democratic, secure, peaceable and progressive Bangladesh. He assured safety, security and safety of Hindus and all…
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 16, 2024
Riaz mentioned that the mending of ties between the 2 international locations was “India’s accountability, by all means,” as a result of Hasina’s regime survived due to India’s assist.
“Bangladesh has entered a brand new chapter,” Riaz mentioned, referring to the tip of Hasina’s lengthy rule.
“Indians ought to recalibrate their coverage as a substitute of crying foul on their challenge. Settle for the truth that Bangladesh has moved on, and transfer on, too”.
