Test for Hasina

In a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the four-day visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni to New Delhi last week, both the sides agreed to conclude the mutual legal assistance treaty on criminal matters. Agreements for mutual legal assistance on criminal matters, transfer of sentenced persons, and combating international terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking, which were discussed at a meeting between Moni and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, are expected to be finalized during the proposed visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina next month. These agreements will enable transfer of terrorists and criminals wanted in either country. As for the Northeast, the expectation is that the agreements will go a long way in providing a legal framework for seeking deportation of militants from the region who have taken shelter in Bangladesh. Much, however, depends on the will of the Bangladesh government to contribute to the Indian anti-terror effort. Till now, thanks to the presence of the fundamentalist Jamaat in the four-party coalition led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia who overlooked the spread of jihad in her country for political gains, Dhaka, like Islamabad, has only been contributing to the expert packaging of jihadi terror against India as manifest in the penetration of the Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HuJI) into India’s terror syndicate. The Bangladesh wing of the Pakistan Army’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), over the past few years, has not only trained outfits like ULFA from India’s Northeast but also hijacked their agendas completely. That would not be possible without the connivance of Dhaka; ULFA c-in-c Paresh Barua & Co would not have such a roaring business in that country as to be called a very significant contributor to its economy without support from Dhaka; the ISI would not go about its project to Islamize Asom by way of flooding it with a huge Bangladeshi population mixed with jihad material and annex it to Bangladesh without approval from Dhaka. Therefore, there are so many things that the moderate-sounding Sheikh Hasina is required to undo for a new phase of relationship with India. The question is not whether she will move in that direction, but whether she will be allowed to reverse the trend in her country — of increased Islamism and hate against Hindu-dominated India — and whether she would succeed in flushing out the ISI mercenaries from her soil and in reining in the ISI-inspired Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI). These are the real issues, far more pertinent than the routine trade and commerce talk and exploration of new business and investment opportunities. What use is trade and commerce or business with Bangladesh if it remains the second epicentre of jihad next only to Pakistan and where the ISI has the scope to engineer shifts in militancy in the Northeast to destabilize the whole region as part of its grand Islamist programme to complete the unfinished agenda of Partition? Needless to say, Sheikh Hasina faces a major test that will decide the future course of the strategic dynamics of this region. We wish her success. THE SENTINEL