Untold Facts

Sovereignty and subservience

I had opportunities to read through two senior journalists’ recent items, one in English and the other in Bengali, both lamenting for indignity of Bangladesh and of the P.M. Sheikh Hasina for her permitting out of protocol the Indian Foreign Secretary Shankar Menon’s one hour exclusive meeting on the 12th April evening in her office in Dhaka. The lamentations had some merit and dimension as they both felt that such breach of protocol amounted to a serious dent on the sovereignty of Bangladesh.

Although I have no scope to disagree with them, I would have a different feeling, in addition, into the matter.

It is well known that the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) is all through a political party very much reliable Indian guy. Since the death of Hossain Shahid Sorawardy in early 1963, the party had nothing of its own except to fall back upon Indian support and sustenance of various nature of the Indian government agencies, the Indian business interests notwithstanding the fact that the leader of mid sixty onwards to mid 1970s had been personally sustained by one of the notorious capitalist of Pakistan in collusion with the CIA.

The subsequent development had been more rigorous in the sense that the next hereditary and new leader had been fully sustained by the R&AW in the South Block for nearly six years from late August 1975 to mid May 1981. Sheikh Hasina is that exact product shaped and reconditioned by host of rigorous and extensive exercises. Who would disagree with this view of facts?

I recall right now some time before the December election, India’s Bengali High Commissioner in Dhaka threatened and reminded the ‘ungrateful’ Bangladeshis that short of their help Bangladesh would not have come into reality, and so the Bangladeshis must remain grateful forever to India for they brought about Bangladesh’s independence in 1971. I reacted to that sermon of the High Commissioner and told him straight way that gratefulness can’t be one-way matter but of two way issue. For the 1971 victory both Bangladesh and India should be grateful to both, because, Bangladesh had her independence for direct armed help of India, no doubt, but India also should be grateful to Bangladesh for the Bangladesh freedom fighters destroyed Pakistan, the number one enemy of India, and further that Bangladesh founded as the independent state out of East Pakistan fully ensured for India to permanently cool down and fully made safe from any armed threat as it could have been from federal army of Pakistan, should Bangladesh would not come about in 1971. The savings in Indian defense budget for 4,200 km. common border with India of former East Pakistan that account for billions of dollars in yearly recurring expenditure should have made India further grateful to Bangladesh.

The 2008 December election result have emboldened not only Hasina but also her long trusted patron across the border. In other words, they are not now any entity different from each other but almost one and one. Such closeness and deep affinity can’t put any bar of protocol on one to one meet as Menon did on the 12th April flown unannounced from Delhi. Why could ’t she say no and ask Menon instead to meet his counterpart, the Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh? Pity. It would as such be useless to lament for the ‘breach’ of protocol that patriots and self respecting citizen of the sovereign Bangladesh must wish to show up. But unless and until she comes out of the psychological bondage and deeply conditioned psyche of subservience, God willing, there is no light in the dark tunnel ahead.

Author: M.T. Hussain