At a time when ties with Pakistan have hit a new low after the Mumbai terror attacks, the landslide victory of Sheikh Hasina in the Bangladesh elections has brought much-needed comfort in India’s foreign office.
Much to the joy of Indian establishment, last night, even before the results were officially out, Hasina called up External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee to share her feelings on the anticipated victory. It was her first call to a foreign government.
According to external affairs ministry sources, India expects the new government to address its security concerns and enhance bilateral trade amidst overall improvement in the bilateral relationship.
India’s most important agenda would be to pursue the new government to root out terror outfits from the Bangladeshi soil as far as possible. The Manmohan Singh government is pinning its hope on Hasina to crack down on the growing Islamist militants and their ties with the Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).
Ministry sources suggest, during Khaleda Zia’s regime, the Indian government had repeatedly pleaded for action against the mushrooming terror hubs but little was done. India also hopes Pakistan would not get any leverage from its erstwhile province that it enjoyed during Zia’s time. Hasina too escaped a terror attack in 2004 when a grenade blasted at a rally, killing 23 others.
As her approach had previously been pro-business and pro-economic liberalisation, top sources in the Manmohan Singh government are optimistic that India-Bangladesh trade ties will boom during the new regime.
According to the government data, bilateral trade has been growing by 145 per cent from about $1 billion in 2001-02 to $2.55 billion in 2006-07. While Bangladesh’s imports from India grew by 124 per cent during 2001-07, its exports to India grew by 480 per cent in the same period. India is the tenth largest export destination for Bangladesh. Substantial duty concessions have also been extended to Bangladesh under SAFTA, SAPTA and APTA.
Hasina, the former prime minister of Bangladesh and daughter of legendary leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh in its liberation struggle against Pakistan in 1971 and was assassinated in a military coup four years later, is all set to become the PM again. Unofficial results signalled that Hasina's Awami League-led alliance had won 255 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly. Only 33 seats went to Begum Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Months after spending almost one year in custody on extortion, murder and corruption charges, Hasina today stamped this landslide victory.
