Delhi-Dhaka ties: Only PM can break impasse

In his all too brief bilateral engagement with the Bangla leadership on the margins of the South Asian summit in Dhaka, Prime Minister Manm...

In his all too brief bilateral engagement with the Bangla leadership on the margins of the South Asian summit in Dhaka, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has a small window of opportunity to begin dismantling the huge psychological barriers that have emerged between India and Bangladesh.

By delinking trade and security issues, offering a ‘‘composite dialogue’’ on all issues of bilateral concern and promising result-oriented negotiations, Singh can make a fresh start in the troubled relationship. Above all, lending an empathetic ear to the many accumulated Bangla grievances and a personal commitment to bring back dignity and equality into bilateral relationship might allow him to scale the wall of mistrust in Dhaka.

Although expectations about Indo-Bangla relations are low, analysts here say it would be a pity if the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Dhaka in five years does not even make an attempt to loosen the knotted bilateral relationship.

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In January 2004 when Prime Minister A B Vajpayee visited Islamabad to attend the 12th Summit of the Saarc, it became an occasion to transform the ties with Pakistan.

But with Bangladesh, a far friendlier terrain than Pakistan, bilateral ties have drifted into an impasse. Thanks to the small-nation syndrome in Dhaka and a lack of vision in Delhi, a frustrating paralysis has taken hold of bilateral ties. To break the gridlock, Singh will have to shore up what the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Veena Sikri recently called the ‘‘psychological infrastructure’’ of bilateral relations. Pointing to the problem of attitude in Dhaka, Sikri, in a recent speech, said a negative mindset ‘‘often colours every discussion, sometimes making the mindset more important than the reality in any situation’’.

That applies to Delhi as well, where episodic attention and a tendency to paint Bangladesh in dark colours have prevented a more sensitive approach to Dhaka. Worse still has been Delhi’s decision to hold back from the economic concessions it needed to offer by demanding security gestures from Bangladesh first. In setting up a false linkage between two major but separate Indian interests in Bangladesh, Delhi has allowed obstreperous elements in Dhaka to prevent progress on both.

Singh could help recast the relationship by delinking trade and security while pursuing issues on both fronts with equal vigour. He should also try and insulate ties with Dhaka from the deeply divisive domestic politics in Bangladesh.

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Similar to the engagement with Pakistan, India needs a framework for comprehensive dialogue that opens up a continuous conversation between the two establishments on all issues-from Dhaka’s demand for market access to India’s concerns on sources of terrorism in Bangladesh, from finalising a boundary settlement to clinching a commercial motor vehicles agreement. Since the new dialogue between India and Pakistan started in June 2004, there has not been a fortnight without some joint working group or an experts committee meeting in either capital trying to sort out one issue or another.

But Delhi and Dhaka find it difficult to even schedule frequent meetings between senior officials, let alone address bilateral problems. An agreement between Singh and Khalida Zia to start a composite dialogue and a public commitment by the Indian PM could provide that impetus for Indo-Bangla relations.