Deadly protests as India’s Modi visits Bangladesh to mark 50 years of independence
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Bangladesh to pay tribute to the hundreds of thousands killed when South Asia’s youngest nation was carved out of East Pakistan 50 years ago. Islamist groups held demonstrations in several cities against Modi's visit, with at least five people killed in clashes with police.
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Buntings and posters festooned the capital Dhaka for the golden jubilee carnival in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan.
"A momentous day in our history,” a banner said in a reference to 26 March 1971, when Bangladeshi freedom champion Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared independence, triggering a nine-month conflict.
Narendra Modi kicked off his visit with a trip to a martyrs’ memorial in Dhaka.
“Their valour will continue to inspire future generations to fight injustice and defend the cause of righteousness”, PM @narendramodi ji writes his message in visitor's book at National Martyr’s Memorial in Dhaka, #Bangladesh pic.twitter.com/72lfVP8D8L
— Rajni Patel (@rajnipatel_mla) March 26, 2021
“The pictures of atrocities that the Pakistan army inflicted on the people here used to distract us. For many days those pictures didn't let us sleep," he said after visiting the memorial.
Nine-month war
Between 300,000 and 500,000 people died during the conflict and 10 million Bangladeshis fled to India as refugees, according to various estimates.
The conflict ended after Indian troops took 93,000 Pakistani soldiers as prisoners of war in December the same year.
It was the third war between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.
The 1971 India-Pakistan war was a military confrontation which led to the birth of a new country in South Asia, Bangladesh#Bangladesh50 #BangladeshAt50 https://t.co/zR2Ld6OJds
— WION (@WIONews) March 21, 2021
Deadly protests
On Friday, at least four people were killed when police fired rifles at supporters of Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam demonstrating in the port city of Chittagong against Modi’s two-day visit.
Another supporter of the group was killed in clashes in the eastern border town of Brahmanbaria.
Similar clashes outside Dhaka’s largest mosque left 60 people injured.
“They attacked my men and then hid inside Baitul Mukarram.They are not true Muslims,” a senior officer told RFI by telephone.
Facebook said its services had been suspended since Friday.
⚠️ Confirmed: Facebook and Messenger restricted in #Bangladesh amid protests against Narendra Modi visit for golden jubilee of independence; real-time network data show disruption to platforms on multiple leading internet providers
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 26, 2021
📰 https://t.co/fREoEvB08q pic.twitter.com/pH56udL35s
Hefazat-e-Islam called for a dawn-to-dusk nationwide shutdown on Sunday to protest the Chittagong killings.
Modi’s visit, his first foreign trip since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic last year, took him to Hindu temples ahead of talks with the Bangladeshi leadership.
Poor of Bangladesh
Referring to the pandemic’s impact, commentators said the national celebrations must open a window to “the great inequalities that exist in our society, which betrays the spirit of our liberation war”.
“Now would be a good time to critically re-examine how well we have guarded the dreams for which our freedom fighters so nobly laid down their lives,” largest-circulation Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Star said in an editorial.
Experts say Bangladesh’s economy is growing and so is poverty.
More than 49 million of its 167 million people lived in poverty last year – a grim figure exacerbated by the impact of the health crisis, according to official data.
#Bangladesh still has much poverty and hardship, rising equality, and an uncertain future trajectory, notes @Cornell's @kaushikcbasu. But its remarkable economic transformation can offer important lessons for today’s low-income countries. https://t.co/q38hMKr0k4
— Project Syndicate (@ProSyn) March 25, 2021
China matters
Dhaka also plans to try to mend its relationship with China, which is locked in festering border disputes with India.
“Our relationship with China is not a zero-sum game, that would mean if we develop a relationship with China will be at the expense of India,” Hasina’s foreign affairs advisor Gowher Rizvi said. “Our relationship with China is very much confined to investments and development."
Bangladesh enjoys tariff-free access on more than 90 percent of its products exported to China.
Veena Sikri, a former Indian envoy, hoped modern cross-border transport services would jack up two-way trade, which slipped to eight billion Euros in the 2019-2020 financial year from 8.7 billion euros the previous year.
“One of the problems in Bangladesh, India trade has been very stop-and-start but now with these connectivity projects I see a great potential,” she said, referring to poor services.
Observer Research Foundation, a Delhi-based think-tank, said ties could further strengthen if “the leadership of the two neighbours play their diplomatic cards with more maturity and pragmatism”.
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