BanglaBhoot
RETIRED TTA
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2007
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Mamun Rashid
People here still feel that we are giving away too much to India in exchange for no, or few, material gains from them
The simple answer to the above question is we cant afford to have a large neighbour like India not being friendly to us. India is an emerging tiger in the global arena having a long term say in whatever may happen in this world 10/20 years down the line.
More interestingly, there is a saying: You can possibly avoid India but not Indians. With an increasing number of people of Indian origin taking up commanding roles in global corporations, and more importantly, having their presence felt in international diplomacy and policy planning, many countries or organisations, if they are not already doing so, are going to watch whats happening in India, and many of them will try to ensure the migration of best practices from India.
I asked the same question to a colleague in the office. She replied: To be politically correct, India is our friend. I guess this type of answer would come from many in Bangladesh.
Many of us, especially close to the ruling party, are trying to remind ourselves of how India helped us in our war of liberation, and is likely to always help us when we face critical junctures.
Having devout respect for the Indian knowledge bank and a few razor sharp Indian professionals, I have come across; I wish I could also echo those sentiments.
I once asked Veena Sikri, the distinguished former Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh: How come Pakistan always gets a better deal from India, not Bangladesh? She just smiled and asked me: What do you think? I thought take it or leave it, Pakistan could pose more threat to stability in India, and their military is much stronger than Bangladeshs. And the international community wanted these two nations to behave with each other.
Our seniors always wanted better connectivity between the people of the two countries. We wanted the Indian private sector to join hands with ours. We wanted Indian researchers in tropical medicine and agriculture to find natural allies among our researchers, and help create more synergy between our academic institutions, especially management and technology ones.
There are of course few longstanding issues between Bangladesh and India. India wanted to ensure that we dont support insurgency in their country, or pose any threat to their political security.
They wanted us to help them in managing the northeastern states, close to China. They wanted Bangladesh to help them smoothen their supply chains to the northeastern territories, as well improve regional connectivity to boost their own trade and commerce.
In return Bangladesh wanted India not to provide shelter to Bangladeshs criminals, help the possible insurgency in southeast tribal zones. More importantly Bangladesh wanted a justified increase in the growing Indo-Bangla trade, which is seriously biased towards India. We wanted a legitimate share of the common pie.
We wanted India to help our made in Bangladesh goods to find their way to Indian states without facing any non-tariff barriers. We wanted India to help us with power generation and exchange, as well as help us address our energy issues in a sustainable way.
There was mistrust between these two neighbours. Courtesy of a few senior politicians in both the countries, the ruling Awami League tried a lot to address these gaps or disconnects. However, through this process, India, or the senior Indian politicians somehow emerged as the saviours to the ruling government, rather than a mutually respectful friend.
Many analysts also feel that Bangladesh never received and will never be able to negotiate a better deal on the outstanding issues with India due to the poor negotiation skills of our civil bureaucracy, and more importantly due to few of our kneel-down politicians.
In the past it used to be a few politicians, cultural activists, civil servants, journalists or economists; rumour says the Indian intelligence agencies have lately been quite successful in breaking through the Bangladesh intelligence network, and could influence their decision making process too.
I dont know how true this is, but can easily understand there are growing Indian influences on our civil-military bureaucracy. How far this will help or improve the respective institutions, I also dont know.
Indian companies are seeing good sales in Bangladesh. Many Indian citizens have been recognised for their role in our war of liberation and there have also been many cultural and youth exchanges.
Despite this, people here still feel that we are giving away too much to India in exchange for no, or few, material gains from them. Businessmen and professionals also felt commercial deals were not done on a transparent basis, giving too much leeway to Indian telecom and power companies.
While I truly feel that, Bangladesh in its own interest should try to make best out of its relationship with India, at the same time I also share the view of the national and regional analysts: India as a large neighbor, and an emerging global voice, has many things to do for its next door neighbour and long term friend Bangladesh.
Is India our friend? | Dhaka Tribune
People here still feel that we are giving away too much to India in exchange for no, or few, material gains from them
The simple answer to the above question is we cant afford to have a large neighbour like India not being friendly to us. India is an emerging tiger in the global arena having a long term say in whatever may happen in this world 10/20 years down the line.
More interestingly, there is a saying: You can possibly avoid India but not Indians. With an increasing number of people of Indian origin taking up commanding roles in global corporations, and more importantly, having their presence felt in international diplomacy and policy planning, many countries or organisations, if they are not already doing so, are going to watch whats happening in India, and many of them will try to ensure the migration of best practices from India.
I asked the same question to a colleague in the office. She replied: To be politically correct, India is our friend. I guess this type of answer would come from many in Bangladesh.
Many of us, especially close to the ruling party, are trying to remind ourselves of how India helped us in our war of liberation, and is likely to always help us when we face critical junctures.
Having devout respect for the Indian knowledge bank and a few razor sharp Indian professionals, I have come across; I wish I could also echo those sentiments.
I once asked Veena Sikri, the distinguished former Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh: How come Pakistan always gets a better deal from India, not Bangladesh? She just smiled and asked me: What do you think? I thought take it or leave it, Pakistan could pose more threat to stability in India, and their military is much stronger than Bangladeshs. And the international community wanted these two nations to behave with each other.
Our seniors always wanted better connectivity between the people of the two countries. We wanted the Indian private sector to join hands with ours. We wanted Indian researchers in tropical medicine and agriculture to find natural allies among our researchers, and help create more synergy between our academic institutions, especially management and technology ones.
There are of course few longstanding issues between Bangladesh and India. India wanted to ensure that we dont support insurgency in their country, or pose any threat to their political security.
They wanted us to help them in managing the northeastern states, close to China. They wanted Bangladesh to help them smoothen their supply chains to the northeastern territories, as well improve regional connectivity to boost their own trade and commerce.
In return Bangladesh wanted India not to provide shelter to Bangladeshs criminals, help the possible insurgency in southeast tribal zones. More importantly Bangladesh wanted a justified increase in the growing Indo-Bangla trade, which is seriously biased towards India. We wanted a legitimate share of the common pie.
We wanted India to help our made in Bangladesh goods to find their way to Indian states without facing any non-tariff barriers. We wanted India to help us with power generation and exchange, as well as help us address our energy issues in a sustainable way.
There was mistrust between these two neighbours. Courtesy of a few senior politicians in both the countries, the ruling Awami League tried a lot to address these gaps or disconnects. However, through this process, India, or the senior Indian politicians somehow emerged as the saviours to the ruling government, rather than a mutually respectful friend.
Many analysts also feel that Bangladesh never received and will never be able to negotiate a better deal on the outstanding issues with India due to the poor negotiation skills of our civil bureaucracy, and more importantly due to few of our kneel-down politicians.
In the past it used to be a few politicians, cultural activists, civil servants, journalists or economists; rumour says the Indian intelligence agencies have lately been quite successful in breaking through the Bangladesh intelligence network, and could influence their decision making process too.
I dont know how true this is, but can easily understand there are growing Indian influences on our civil-military bureaucracy. How far this will help or improve the respective institutions, I also dont know.
Indian companies are seeing good sales in Bangladesh. Many Indian citizens have been recognised for their role in our war of liberation and there have also been many cultural and youth exchanges.
Despite this, people here still feel that we are giving away too much to India in exchange for no, or few, material gains from them. Businessmen and professionals also felt commercial deals were not done on a transparent basis, giving too much leeway to Indian telecom and power companies.
While I truly feel that, Bangladesh in its own interest should try to make best out of its relationship with India, at the same time I also share the view of the national and regional analysts: India as a large neighbor, and an emerging global voice, has many things to do for its next door neighbour and long term friend Bangladesh.
Is India our friend? | Dhaka Tribune
ya,they were bengalis not bangladeshis a part of india..and going by this forefather thing,who knows whose forefather was who..plz spare me..
