Tooba Altaf
The latest diplomatic overtures between Pakistan and Bangladesh such as the exchange of phone calls, between Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, and Bangladesh’s Prime Minister, Hasina Wajid, vindicates the axiomatic rule, that in International Relations, there is neither a permanent friend nor a foe.
The call came, as a further step in the process of thawing the ice between the two countries, initiated by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh, Imran Siddiqui’s huddle with Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, A.K. Abdul Momen, analysts believe. During the phone call, PM Imran Khan expressed his desire for closer and fraternal ties with Bangladesh, on the basis of mutual respect and sovereign equality.
The relationship between Islamabad and Dhaka has been mired since the secession of Pakistan’s eastern wing of Bengal as an independent country in 1971, separating from each other within 24 years of independence from British colonial rule, in 1947. What followed was cold relations between both the nations. Particularly, the issue of alleged war crimes committed during the 1971 war, took on a new fervor during the current government of Hasina Wajid when she embarked on the resumption of war crimes’ trial. This culminated in the execution of several leaders of the Islamic party i.e. Jamat-e-Islami, in 2016, active in Pakistani politics as well, on its alleged involvement in committing war crimes.
However, the changing dynamics of both domestic and global politics has led to the realization on both sides that fulfillment of their respective National Interests, requires both the states, to set their relations anew. The immense youth bulge and the demands of the growing population in both Pakistan and Bangladesh leaves much room for cooperation in social and economic sectors. The current volume of bilateral trade stands at $700.39 million, with the share of Pakistani exports to Bangladesh amounting to $654.79 million while that of Bangladesh exports to Pakistan amounts to $45.60 million. Pakistan has also prioritized trade with Bangladesh by putting it in list A of trading partners and declared it the top destination for Pakistani exports after China and Afghanistan.
The Pakistani exports to Dhaka include; raw sugar, cotton, yarn, tanned leather, silk, woolen, machinery, and its components, etc. while the Bangladeshi exports to Pakistan comprise mainly of tea, raw jute, and tobacco. The increased efforts at mutually promoting commercial ties are also laudable such as the conduction of TEXPO-2019 in Lahore and Leather tech (2018,2019), in Dhaka, where participants from both sides were made.
On the regional level, the growing anti-Muslim sentiments in India, under the rule of PM Narendra Modi with the rising Hindu supremacism, have seen the enactment of alienation laws such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019. This Act offers citizenship to immigrants on a religious basis excluding Muslims, thus jeopardizing the future of millions of Bangladeshi immigrants living inside India. Another source of tension between Bangladesh and India is over the burden-sharing of the Rohingya refugees, and the repercussions of CAA for these refugees.
Meanwhile, the growing political and economic clout of China is also shaping the contours of international politics, with Chinese investments surging as far as $10 billion in Bangladesh’s infrastructural projects. This may also account for, as one of the reasons for improving relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh, as a bid on Bangladesh’s part to be included in the Pakistan-China-Turkey growing nexus and the ineptitude of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), in resolving the issues of the Islamic world.
However, the relationship between Islamabad and Dhaka needs to be tread carefully as the chapter of their historical past is still open and requires self-reflection from both sides, if developing amiable relations is the strategic goal of the two states.
The author Tooba Altaf is an International Relations’ graduate, while working as a Researcher at Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Islamabad.
