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A TRAIN TO DHAKA

Putting friendship on the rails

Joydeep Bhattacharjee On a sultry and oppressive summer day, in the year 2000, I was returning to my office after completing an assignment. My energy was sapped and so I entered a store looking for a cool bottle of coke. The shop-keeper, however, introduced me to a small bottle of lichee juice which, to my utter surprise, I found to be a brand from Bangladesh. Manufactured by Pran, a soft drink company in that country, which produces lichee juice, this is exported to India. Since then, five or six years have passed and this lichee juice has become almost as popular as any other brand of soft drinks – rather more popular among those who believe that American soft drinks are more harmful considering high pesticide content. I had an instinctive feeling that day that the sore relations between the two neighbouring countries might improve – given the fact that understanding between the two was improving since the 12

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audacious intrusion by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Pyrdiwah (in Meghalaya) and the killing of 16 BSF personnel at Mancachar in Assam. The Pyrdiwah incident is one of the rarest intrusions that India has ever faced. The BSF bunkers were occupied in the middle of the night and the entire troop was incapacitated – albeit they (BSF) continued to hold the position from within, gheraoed by the BDR personnel from all sides. This incident taught India a good lesson – at least enough to realize the importance of having friendly neighbours and also to know as to how to keep them close. The world has otherwise been changing very fast – from the war of words to the war of economics – all in a span of fifteen years. The economic warfare is the latest in the list and may be more powerful than biological warfare. India took a little time to grasp this. However, it attained the maturity to understand how much the market driven forces influence the policy of a government. For best relations with neighbours,

economic dependence (of that country) or interdependence go a long way in establishing that tie. The more economically dependent the neighbouring country becomes on you, the more bargaining power you attain. This realization (of India) came, probably, through its own experience of working with foreign companies which not only influence our stock markets, but also, do interfere in the evaluation of our currency. India’s economy is largely driven by American companies, which even restrict the appreciation of the Indian rupee. But that’s about India’s understanding with the US. What about South East Asia? In the South East, China enjoys very good economic ties with all its neighbours, something India has failed to achieve. China has fourteen countries around its borders and it has been maintaining fairly balanced relations with almost all of them. Even, its presence in Bangladesh is bigger than that of India. On the contrary, India’s influence on its neighbours has only waned over the

years. Despite being the architect of Bangladesh, India does not hav the best of relations with it. Knowing very well that Bangladesh (besides Myanmar) is India’s link to Southeast Asia, India has failed to keep these countries on its side. They instead, prefer Chinese investment for developing their own oil sectors and building infrastructures (roads and pipelines), which will allow Beijing to ship out exports and import crude. While China is taking all the pulp out of the fruit, India has to Secretary of Road and Railway Division of rethink its external policy, or rather the Ministry of Communication Dr Muhamits neighbourhood policy for the cru- mad Mahbubur Rahman and Indian High cial countries around the Northeast. If Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakrabarty Bangladesh and Myanmar are two imsigning the Bangla-India Agreement on portant states for India from a security Dhaka-Kolkata Passenger Train Service. point of view, they are important for the Northeast for a strong economy. to carry out business with the caretaker The best thing that could have hap- government despite a visible suspension pened long ago is India’s support to of democratic activities in Bangladesh. Bangladesh’s garment industry. If Levis The caretaker government in Dhaka, unjeans could be stitched in Bangladesh, der Fakhruddin Ahmed, took office on why can’t we import them from there it- January 12 last year and postponed both self? If Dhakai Jamdani (a variety of sa- national and local elections till 2008 end ree) is so popular in India, why don’t we – a decision that defies the country’s conhave even one manufacturing unit in the stitution and puts an un-elected regime in entire eastern region? India has to look charge for an indefinite period. into these issues from a real perspective. But they got much needed support Nevertheless, India has recently from India (in its silence) and returned agreed to import eight million pieces of with assurances that the militant bases garments, duty free, from Bangladesh – a in that country would be wiped out so welcome sign for the cause of mutual trust. that the country’s security concern is adThis has, in fact, brought a feel good factor dressed. to the strained relations between the two. Its heartening for India that at a time India is the greatest democracy in when Pakistan was going back to its old the region, where democracy is in dis- form of cross border terrorism, as feared tress. If China was caught on the wrong by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as foot while handling the Tibetan move- well, Bangladesh has gone all out to fight ment for freedom, Bangladesh is yet to it by executing six terrorists, including restore democracy, a system that is still two who had acquired a fearsome reputaeluding Myanmar as well. India’s si- tion for their depredations. The two were lence, though, will have a negative im- Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla bhai, head pact on its image in the sub-continent, of the Jagrata Muslim Janata (Awakened it is, however, better than inviting more Muslim Masses), and Abdur Rahman, head of the Jamaat-e-Mujahideen, one of trouble from across the border. In fact, India remained a mute witness the signatories of Al Qaeda’s fatwa estabto the bloodless coup, of a sort, in Dhaka lishing an International Islamic Front. under the thin guise of civilian control for This crackdown against the Islamic the reason that the caretaker government fundamentalists by the Army-backed rehad sent across a message that it would gime in Bangladesh has instilled much work towards New Delhi’s concerns confidence among the Indian diplomats about its security. India in turn vowed about the country’s sincerity to walk

hand in hand for mutual growth. India was fearing that after the US offensive against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, many of the terrorists had fled to Bangladesh, where they felt that they had a friendly administration and eventually would convert that country into a second Afghanistan. Now, all that has changed with Dhaka recognizing the threat the Islamists pose to the country’s social, political and economic stability. It is not impossible that the new rulers have drawn the appropriate lessons from Pakistan’s travails, where not only are the groups, modeled on the Taliban, becoming stronger, but the fundamentalists have been able to spread their tentacles even to Islamabad. But the greatest thing to happen in the history of India is the resumption of passenger train services between India and Bangladesh on April 14, the Bengalee New Year day – almost 43 years after they were suspended at the time of the India-Pakistan war and when Bangladesh was East Pakistan. Named Maitree Express, the train comprises six coaches and a pantry car and runs twice a week – on Saturdays and Sundays. Prior to 1947 there was a regular overnight railway service from Kolkata to Goalandu and further up to Dhaka (then Dacca) via Narayangunj. At the time of Partition there were three train services from Sealdah (in Kolkata) to different destinations of then East Pakistan. The trains that ran then were the East Bengal Mail, the East Bengal Express and the Barisal Express – all of which were in operation till 1965. Its to India’s benefit to reconstruct the “Gujral doctrine” of giving more to smaller neighbours and expecting less from them. The approach, instead, must be balanced and make smaller countries depend more on it – not just to get some one-time benefit. A future sovereign, economically viable and stable Bangladesh is in India’s interest. The Maitree Express is likely to do just that so as to bring back the long lost friendship on track and chug into a new era of mutual trust and interdependence.

June 08

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