The 6th Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) started the day before while Bangladesh took over the chairmanship for the next two years. The warm reception of Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus by the prime minister of Thailand kicked off the beginning of Bangladesh at the BIMSTEC summit. This summit is going to be a very crucial one for Bangladesh not only for taking responsibility for BIMSTEC but also for meeting up with some monumental tasks like the repatriation process of Rohingya refugees along with building up bilateral relations with each of the participating states. However, BIMSTEC consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Thailand which aims to build Security, trade, technical and scientific correlations among the member states. BIMSTEC is going to play a huge role in balancing the Bay of Bengal region both politically and economically. So, The summit of BIMSTEC is also very much getting in touch with each of the members.
By Md. Al-Amin
The much-hyped Yunus-Modi conference was conducted earlier that day. This is the very first time Dr. Yunus and Narendra Modi have made an official conference on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok today. The significance of this meeting is undescribable following the recent bilateral tensions between Bangladesh and India. After the regime change in Bangladesh and the ousting of Sheikh Hasina from the throne, there was neither any formal visit nor any formal conference between these two long-lasting trusted neighbors. As a result, diplomatic turmoil defects their relations in every way. So, this inevitable meeting is going to meet those challenges and make the relations normalize.
In between the conversation between the two leaders, from the Bangladeshi side, Dr. Yunus urged Modi to give back ex-Prime -minister Sheikh Hasina from India to Bangladesh as well as keep her silent about delivering any sort of incendiary speeches. Another important concern is border killings. Between Bangladesh and India’s Border, “there were 1236 killed and 1145 civilians of Bangladesh”, a rights group reported. After 5th August 2024, this border dispute intensified acutely by making fences near several borders like Naogaon, Lalmonirhat, Patgram, Kurigram etc. So, The Chief Adviser of Bangladesh asked Modi to reduce the tensions through mutualism for the sake of regional peace and requested him to not use any lethal weapons in the border area. Again the most historical treaty like the Ganges water sharing treaty has to expire within 2026 which was dealt with between Bangladesh and India in the year of 1996. This 30-year-long treaty has impacted Bangladesh both politically and economically throughout the years. So, this is very urgent for Bangladesh to extend the duration of the Ganges water-sharing treaty. Apart from that, those disputed river water sharing disputes like the Teesta water sharing treaty, and the Feni rivers water sharing treaty were discussed during the meetings which are valued for Bangladesh.
However, overall security tensions between Bangladesh and India are discussed in the meetings. But India’s biggest concern was getting assurance of the Northeast province’s security. Meanwhile, Bangladesh needed to pose a serious notice about the region so that no hostilities occurred which might have deteriorated the relations more.
Recent remarks from Dr. Yunus during his 4-day visit to Beijing stocked India deeply, in his remarks, he says, “The seven states of India, the eastern part of India, are called the seven sisters. They are a landlocked region of India. They have no way to reach out to the ocean. Bangladesh is the guardian of the ocean for the region”.
This opens up a huge possibility. This could be an extension for the Chinese economy. The political leaders of India didn’t take it easily. They condemned it and urged the central government to pursue alternative channels to connect Seven Sisters. Even the only land connection “Chicken Neck” encompasses Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan which exacerbates serious threats to Indian sovereignty. Another demand of Indian authority was minority concerns in Bangladesh. In the past, India expressed serious concern about minority issues in Bangladesh, in response Bangladesh replied that it is an internal issue of Bangladesh which does not create any concern for India at all. Again, The Foreign Secretary of India Vikram Misri told the media that Prime Minister Modi underlined India’s concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and expressed his expectations that the government of Bangladesh would ensure their security. He said the Prime Minister also pressed for a thorough investigation into all cases of atrocities.
Finally, The meeting assumes significance amid Dhaka’s growing closeness with Beijing, even on Eid day, the Prime Minister of Pakistan invites Bangladesh’s interim government’s Chief adviser Dr. Yunus to come to Pakistan, a development Delhi has been watching closely. But amid the serious upfront between Bangladesh and India, this Corridor diplomacy (which means a formal meeting between two opponents for their national interest rather than the main agenda of any International conference) gives the fuel to construct the relations with a win-win situation. So, after this meeting, the relations between Bangladesh and India will be shaped, which is certainly believable.
Md. Al-Amin is an educator. He completed his post-graduation from the Department of International Relations at Rajshahi University. His research interests are Diplomacy, Foreign policy, Border conflicts, and Security issues.
