Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has expressed her Bangladesh Nationalist Party's (BNP) support to militant groups in India's northeastern states who, she claimed, are waging a war of independence.
Zia, leader of the opposition in Parliament, justified her party's support while speaking at her native district of Feni. She said: They (the northeastern insurgents) are fighting for independence. We also fought for it, so we are always in favour of any independence movement.
Political observers find her remarks ironical considering it was India that assisted Bangladesh in attaining independence from Pakistan.
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She said the people of Bangladesh would not go against any independence movement and would not help forcefully quell such liberation struggles. Using our army against the movement will not be allowed, she said.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and her Indian counterpart H D Deve Gowda, during their meeting in Dhaka, had decided to cooperate in stopping cross-border insurgency.
Zia had earlier said the people of Bangladesh would never allow the country to be used to suppress the struggle for independence in the seven northeast Indian states.
Bangladesh, which earned independence through a bloody struggle, can never support the suppression of people seeking independence, Zia was reported to have said.
She accused the Awami League government of Sheikh Hasina of helping India materialise its alleged suppression of separatists by allowing it transit through Bangladesh for easier access to the northeastern states. The BNP chairperson reiterated her allegation that Sheikh Hasina wanted to prolong her stay in power by saving India's interest.
Other senior BNP leaders including secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuyian have also been speaking in favour of the separatists in north-east India. Bhuiyan said Bangladeshis were opposed to the idea of helping India crack down on northeastern militant groups.
Zia is however silent on the similar two-decade-old separatist movement of the Chakmas for autonomy in Bangladesh's Chittagong hill tracts. She had initiated negotiations with Chakma rebel leaders during her tenure as Prime Minister.
She had accused Sheikh Hasina's government of cooking a conspiracy to hand over the hill tracts to others.
She had also said that the army, which is controlling the over 14,000 km area of the hill tracts to stop the bush war, must stay in the region. She said she would oppose any move to withdraw the army from the area.
Observers here sarcastically say that the BNP chairperson's support for independence movements was curious as, while it went out to separatists in foreign countries, it was missing for similar movements within Bangladesh.
The chief whip of Parliament, Abul Hasnat Abdullah, who was in Tripura's capital Agartala for talks with Chakma refugees for their return to their homes, reportedly said that a political settlement for the issue would take place soon.