Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami supremo Shafiqur Rahman has said that his party wants cordial and stable relations with India. New Delhi needs to rethink its foreign policy Since bilateral relations do not involve interference in each other’s internal affairs, it is not appropriate to interfere in bilateral relations in the neighbourhood.
Mr Rahman, who is also the Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, said his party supports close ties between India and Bangladesh but also believes Bangladesh should leave behind the baggage of the past and maintain strong and balanced ties with countries like the US, China and Pakistan.
Mr. Rahman, 65, argued that New Delhi’s perception of Jamaat-e-Islami as anti-India was wrong, stressing that “Jamaat-e-Islami is not against any country; this is a wrong perception. We are pro-Bangladesh and are only interested in protecting the interests of Bangladesh,” and stressed that this perception needed to change.
Jamaat-e-Islami suggested that it would have been better if the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh After resigning, Sheikh Hasina said, She did not flee to India because of the unrest. He advocated for her to return to Bangladesh to face the law.
He said, “India is our neighbour and we want good, stable and harmonious bilateral relations. However, India has done some things in the past which were not liked by the people of Bangladesh.”
Also read: Interim Bangladesh government will give priority to relations with India: Dhaka policy expert
He said, “For example, during the 2014 Bangladesh elections, a senior Indian diplomat visited Dhaka and instructed who should participate and who should not. This was unacceptable, as this is not the role of a neighbouring country. We believe India will eventually reevaluate its foreign policy with regard to Bangladesh. We feel that interference in each other’s internal issues should be avoided.”
Mr. Rehman said Jamaat-e-Islami wants India to be a “friend and play a responsible role in bilateral relations”, while stressing that his party accepts its responsibility to improve ties but insists these relations should be “non-interfering in each other’s internal issues”.
“Working together and interfering are two different things. Working together has a positive connotation, while interference is negative. Bilateral relations should mean cooperation and mutual respect. India is our closest neighbour; we share both land and maritime borders, so we should have good relations because you cannot stay away from your neighbour,” he said in Dhaka.
Mr. Rahman acknowledged that although Jamaat-e-Islami had contacts with the Indian establishment in the past, these contacts diminished during the Awami League rule over the last 16 years, but he believes “effective relations with India can now be reestablished.”
answering a question Allegations of attack on Hindus in Bangladesh The allegations levelled by the Jamaat activists were refuted by Mr Rehman, calling them “baseless”.
Mr. Rehman blamed a malicious media campaign for the negative portrayal of Jamaat-e-Islami and said that despite being the worst victims of atrocities committed by the Sheikh Hasina government in the last 15 years, “we are still on the ground and Jamaat still has the support of the people.”
Regarding relations with Pakistan, Mr. Rehman said, “We want good relations with them as well. We want equal and balanced relations with all our neighbours in the subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. This balance is very important to maintain stability.”
Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan, broke away from Pakistan following the 1971 Liberation War.
Regarding diplomatic relations with other global powers, Mr. Rehman said, “We want balanced and stable relations with world powers like the US and China, because in this globalised world, we are interconnected in various ways.”
On the recent flood situation in Bangladesh, Mr Rahman said that India should have given prior information to Bangladesh before releasing water.
Also read: Tripura dam did not cause Bangladesh floods: India
He said, “We are not saying that India is responsible for the heavy rains, but India should have informed us before releasing the water so that we could handle the situation better and save lives. We believe this dam should not have been there at all and the water should have been allowed to flow on its natural path.”
His remarks came amid reports from Dhaka blaming India for the floods in Bangladesh.
Flooding caused by monsoon rains in deltaic Bangladesh and upland Indian regions has killed scores of people and affected nearly 3 million, posing a major challenge for the newly installed interim government amid political transition.
India has refuted recent factually incorrect reports in Bangladesh that the current flood situation in some areas was caused by the opening of a dam on the Gumti River in Tripura.
India’s Foreign Ministry has said that flooding in rivers shared by the two countries is a “shared” problem which affects people on both sides and requires close mutual cooperation to resolve it.
The interim government of Bangladesh has cancelled the diplomatic passports of ousted Prime Minister Hasina and all members of her former cabinet.
Mr Rahman said that whenever elections are held in Bangladesh, Jamaat will participate in them.
He said, “We believe that the interim government should be given time, but it should not be indefinite. We will clarify our position on the timing of new elections at the appropriate time. But whenever the elections are held, we will participate in it.”