Bangladeshis erode Modi’s influence in Dhaka: Dr Shafqat
Islamabad: Research fellow at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and a specialist on South Asian Affairs, Dr Shafqat Munir on Thursday expressed the optimism that with the fall of Hasina Wajid led government in Bangladesh, a new power balance in South Asia would help strengthen Bangladesh-China-Pakistan regional initiative for peace, development and prosperity.
According to Kashmir Media Service, talking about the recent uprising in Bangladesh in an SDTV programme, Dr Shafqat said that the Awami League’s politics was based on hatred and divide policy without realizing the sentiments of three generations of Bangladesh as she could not maintain the heroism of her late father for long and with her largely pro-Indian stance, she keep distancing herself from a large number of people who disagreed with her politics of authoritarianism. The three generations included the population who lived in united Pakistan, a generation that was grown up in Bangladesh with some bitterness of the past and a new young generation who did not have the baggage of strained history, he said.
Sharing his experience of interactions with these three generations, Dr Shafqat said by and large a majority of the people hailing from these generations with predominantly did not like the country’s tilt towards India by distancing from Pakistan.
“One extremist sizable population that was supporting Awami League was certainly siding with Hasina on her pro-Indian politics. Amid this reality, Ms Hasina remained insecure that is why she relied on Indian security and Modi’s then stature which has now been eroded after the general election 2024 in India.
Indian elections happened to be a demise of Hindutva. Hasina had assumed that India and Modi will emerge as the most powerful but that proved to be a counterproductive for her political strides,” he added.
Dr Shafqat said Modi used Hasina to derail the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). In the SAARC region, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are leading powers followed by Nepal, Sri Lanka and others, he said and added, Hasina put her weight behind Modi while now the new power dynamics may take place in the region which hopefully would help revive SAARC with India no more a spoiler power.
“I met several people who shared good memories of their lives in united Pakistan and denied that all Bengalis were against Pakistan. They were of the view that all Bengalis did not want to separate from Pakistan but due to some vested interests, the separation was projected as independence by some national, regional, and international players. A senior citizen was of the view that how could they claim independence as Hasina subjugated us to India,” Dr Shafqat said.
The Army and other state institutions were closely watching Hasina’s policies and once this uprising started and reached its peak, the Army declared that they are with their people and not with Hasina, the government. The sparked strengths and the mob moved to topple the government.
Over the years, mutiny within the Bangladesh Army was witnessed but the Army and other institutions had reformed themselves and finally did not block toppling of an authoritarian and arrogant regime.
The Army and protestors in Bangladesh, he said, unanimously challenged the mandate and upheld state interest during the protests to end Indian influence over their sovereign state
Importantly, he said Pakistan’s flag was hoisted in the protests and a large number of the population believed that separation from Pakistan was a political compulsion imposed by outer forces.
“Modi has convened his security experts in the present situation as it has got serious security concerns after fall of Hasina in Dhaka,” he added. “India before elections had predicted that Modi would emerge as a more powerful leader but people in India had realized that he was isolating the country and getting lethal for the society under his Hindutva ideology causing polarization against Muslims and Christians and other,” he observed.
