The week-long India sojourn of General Moeen U. Ahmed, the army chief of Bangladesh, is doubly significant. For one, it is the first ever visit by an army chief of Bangladesh to India. Since the assassination of its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1975, four years after New Delhi helped liberate the nation, the army in Bangladesh has tended to be an institutional opponent of cordial relations with India. The very fact that Moeen has chosen to travel to India opens the door for a productive engagement between the security forces of the two countries. The Indian army’s gift of six thoroughbred horses to Moeen is hopefully a symbol of South Block’s commitment to a new relationship with the security forces of Bangladesh.Second, General Moeen is no ordinary army chief. It is not for nothing that the current regime in Bangladesh is called an “army-backed caretaker government”. In January 2007 he postponed parliamentary elections, thereby keeping power away from the two main political parties, the Awami League led by Sheikh Hasina and the Bangladesh National Party led by Khaleda Zia. Although the popularity of the caretaker government has waned in recent months, Moeen could still be seen to represent an opportunity for structural change within Bangladesh and in Indo-Bangla relations. The issues between the two governments are many — from illegal migration, sanctuary for Indian terrorist organisations in Bangladesh, to transit on the Indian side; a huge trade deficit, India’s border fencing and river-water sharing on the Bangladeshi side. None of them is an insurmountable obstacle. They have become intractable because of a steady erosion of mutual trust, bureaucratic inability to sustain a dialogue, and the absence of an Indian vision for a cooperative relationship with Bangladesh.Moeen’s visit is the moment to redeem India’s recent promises to make amends. New Delhi could also do with a bit of help from the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who will have an opportunity to interact with Moeen. West Bengal has a lot to gain from a creative relationship with Bangladesh. Unlike the Punjab governments which have actively promoted sensible ties with Pakistan, Kolkata has stayed aloof from Dhaka. A measure of strategic purposefulness in New Delhi and a bit of political imagination in Kolkata could help redefine the template of Indo-Bangla relations.
