¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·

The interim government has neither carried out any reform in the foreign policy of the country nor has it been able to establish its external ties in keeping with the aspirations of the mass uprising in July 2024.

According to foreign affairs experts and former diplomats, Bangladesh’s relations with India have strained since the interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus, took over on August 8 while its ties with Pakistan have suddenly marked a positive development.

They suggested that the government needed to maintain working relations with the country’s bordering neighbours India and Myanmar as there were tensions along the borders with them following the political changeover.

The government should have built a political consensus by the time to establish  a strong foreign policy based on equality and dignity to protect the country’s interest without depending much on any particular country, experts observed.

Although, they said, the government said that its foreign policy would follow the principle of equality and mutual respect in terms of relations with other countries, its activities have not reflected the aspirations of the July uprising that led to the ouster of the authoritarian regime of Sheikh Hasina, who fled the country on August 5, 2024 and has been sheltered in India since.

‘Signals matter. The government could not yet convey the message of the July uprising to foreign countries properly,’ former ambassador and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute president Humayun Kabir observed.

He told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· on Thursday that the people’s aspirations for dignity and equality had not been communicated to other countries in a pragmatic way.  

Humayun, also former foreign secretary, said that no major reform initiative was taken for the foreign ministry over the past decades, excepting some minor adjustments.

Bangladesh must review its foreign policy on a regular basis to engage with other nations economically and culturally, he said, adding that the government should take preparations in a way that it does not require depending heavily on any single country for exports or imports, commented the senior diplomatic expert. 

Meanwhile, Bangladesh’s relations with India have been going tense following the fall of Sheikh Hasina as Dhaka is still awaiting New Delhi’s response on its request for the return of the deposed prime minister for trial.

For nearly a year since the political changeover in Bangladesh, Indian authorities have continued to push people, including Rohingyas registered in that country, into Bangladesh ignoring its request not to send anyone in this way -- without officially verifying their identifies -- but through a formal channel if any Bangladeshi nationals are found staying there illegally.

Besides, India has slapped restrictions on exports of Bangladeshi readymade garments and its import of raw materials through Indian territory, affecting Bangladesh’s businesses.

Asked for comment, foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain recently said that his government was trying to maintain good relations with other countries.

‘We want good relations with all other [nations]. So we are doing our best to maintain the ties on the basis of mutual respect,’ he said, responding to a question from ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· at the foreign ministry.

As regards to the relation with India, he said that there had always been people-to-people relations between these two neighbouring countries.

‘We always want to keep good relations with all, but don’t like to depend on any particular country heavily for anything,’ said Touhid, also a former diplomat and a retired foreign secretary.

On April 8, India withdrew the transshipment facility that allowed export cargo from Bangladesh to third countries through Indian land customs stations, except Nepal and Bhutan.

Following the withdrawal, on April 15, the National Board of Revenue imposed a ban on the import of yarn and some other products through the country’s land ports from India.

On several occasions, the foreign adviser said that Bangladesh needed to ‘maintain a kind a balance’ in pursuing its foreign relations with big countries like India, China, and the United States of America.

Admitting the strain in the India-Bangladesh relations, he earlier said that Dhaka would like to maintain working relations with New Delhi on the basis of mutual respect by removing ongoing tension between the two neighbours.

In a major development, Bangladesh and Pakistan, meanwhile, held their sixth foreign secretary-level meeting on April 17 in Dhaka after 15 years.

In the meeting, Dhaka once again called for a formal apology from Pakistan for the atrocities its occupation forces committed during the War of Independence in 1971 and return of Bangladesh’s due share of the Pakistan’s pre-independence assets and foreign aid, besides discussions on further cooperation in trade, connectivity, and other areas.

About the upcoming visit of Pakistan deputy prime minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar to Bangladesh, foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain on August 4 said that Dhaka would raise 1971 issues on the table for discussions as a bilateral meeting between them is scheduled to be held on August 24.

Ishaq Dar is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on August 23 to discuss ways to strengthen coordination with Bangladesh.

Former chair of the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies Munshi Faiz Ahmad said that the government’s foreign policy did not reflect the principle of equality and mutual respect.

‘At present the government does not have any such foreign policy, which is based on mutual interest,’ he observed.

Faiz Ahmad, also a former ambassador, said that the government had failed to maintain good relations with India, China, and the USA while people, he commented, would decide on which country they would depend for what they need. 

‘The relations between Bangladesh and India have turned worse. We need to maintain working relations with them keeping in view what went wrong with that country during the previous regime,’ he observed.

Chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus’ s visit to China in March, his first bilateral visit to any country, and his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing gave a message about Bangladesh’s position in the geopolitical context as they vowed to foster stronger ties and mutual benefits through joint efforts on key issues, according to the experts.

Executive director of non-government think-tank Centre for Governance Studies Parvez Karim Abbasi said that after the July uprising, ordinary people expected that the interim government would take some concrete measures in terms of governance and also to reshape its foreign policy to make the country ‘less subservient’ to any foreign power.

He said that India’s recent restrictions on visas for Bangladeshis had caused sufferings to many in this country, particularly to those seeking advanced medicare there.

Parvez, however, said that India’s continued long support for Sheikh Hasina’s undemocratic regime led to rise in authoritarianism and shirking democratic space in Bangladesh.

Underlining the need for keeping good relations with both China and India, he said, ‘We have to equally and delicately balance these two powers. ‘

Moreover, the issues of proposed ‘humanitarian passage’ to conflict-ridden Rakhine State of Myanmar under an initiative of the United Nations and the establishment of the UN rights office in Bangladesh in the absence of any political government drew widespread criticism.

Dhaka’s signing of Non-Disclosure Agreement with Washington during the recent negotiations over the US reciprocal tariff has also been criticised with the country’s people being in the dark about what Bangladesh had committed to do to bring down the tariff to 20 per cent from 35 and whether the commitments in response to the US proposals were against the country’s interest.

About the necessity of signing the Non-Disclosure Agreement with the USA, Touhid said that he was not willing to comment on the issue as the commerce ministry was leading the talks with the US from the Bangladesh side.