4 September 1996, Daily Star
After the conclusion of his three-day official goodwill visit to Bangladesh (August 16-18), Pakistan’s foreign secretary Mr. Najimuddin Sheikh held a press conference on 18 August at the state guest house Maghna where his counterpart Bangladesh foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan was also present, and replied to a volley of questions from the reporters. Mr. Najimuddin without any hide and seek freely opened his mouth about the gist of the outcome of his talks with Bangladesh foreign secretary including foreign minister Abdus Samad Azad, state minister of the same minister Mr. Abul Ahsan Chowdhury and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina details of which were published in the dailies and aired by Radio and TV. The visit was, in fact, a kind of response to the visit of Mr. Farooq Sobhan to Pakistan from August 9-11 and it took place in the backdrop of the visit by the foreign secretary of India Mr. Salman Haider to Bangladesh from July 5-7.
Although the Pakistan foreign secretary showed a positive gesture and goodwill about his visit while talking to the waiting journalists at the Zia International Airport soon after his arrival and the same was conveyed by the foreign minister of Bangladesh Mr. Abdus Samad Azad who at his press conference on August 17 at the state guest house Maghna termed the ongoing talks at the foreign secretary level as “good and useful,” the overall outcome virtually could not yield and ensure anything positive to bring about immediate solutions to the long-standing issues such as repatriation of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh, recent push-in of Bangladesh origin Pakistan nationals and sharing of assets and liabilities of pre-independence period settlement of which is very much unilateral in nature and it lies in Pakistan.
At the said press conference, on the question of repatriation of stranded Pakistanis known as Biharis, the Pakistan foreign secretary categorically and emphatically asserted that Pakistan had honored the original agreement in full by taking three categories of people back to Pakistan adding that the present problem is very humanitarian in nature and both Bangladesh and Pakistan government need to work together and expedite the process while Mr. Farooq Sobhan said. “It does not help relationship if one looks into the past.”
In reply to a question on the recent push-in of Bangladesh origin Pakistan nationals Mr. Najimuddin made it clear and specific that Pakistan had differing views on the subject saying that, in fact, no push-in into Bangladesh had yet taken place. He further put forward a logic that the people who came to Bangladesh did so just to meet their relatives, friends and others. He said again that at present there were more than a million illegal ‘Bangladeshi immigrants in Pakistan’. Mr. Farooq Sobhan, however, outrightly denied the allegation saying that there were no Bangladeshi in Pakistan and even if they were people of Bangladesh origin they were nationals of Pakistan.
Regarding the sharing of the assets and liabilities of the pre-liberation period, Pakistan foreign secretary said that the matter was very complex and delicate adding that Pakistan had its own view about the matter for which it could not be solved so early and easily.
About the business, trade and commerce between the two countries he emphasized that more and more contacts in various forms and dimensions should continue and be strengthened covering initiatives for joint venture projects in both countries as both the countries were now pursuing a broad-based “liberalized policy” to suite the purposes. He also attached importance to continuous contacts through meetings at foreign-secretary level so that the tempo of a congenial atmosphere could be maintained to obviate any negative blast from any side.
Finally, in response to a question on Bangladesh-India relations particularly on water issue he made it unambiguously clear that “Pakistan should stand by Bangladesh in her due and logical fight with India. Curiously enough, instead of going for a broad-based frame for overall understanding between the two countries through peaceful and amicable settlements of the long-standing thorny issues, Pakistan’s foreign secretary in effect stood firm and committed to gear up the slowing tempo of “India phobia” to keep it alive for all the time to come here in Bangladesh.
More curious was the matter that just before one day of the visit of Pakistan’s foreign secretary to Bangladesh an unhappy, rather ‘unbecoming diplomatic incident’ was given birth to by the Charge de Affairs of Pakistan in Bangladesh. Although a number of heads of foreign mission in Dhaka including Pakistan’s were invited and accordingly taken to the ‘mazar’ of the father of the nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at Toungipara in Gopalgong on the occasion of the National Mourning Day of his assassination on August 15, the first of its kind after the change-over of August 15, 1975, Pakistan’s CDA kept himself aloof from joining such a national event. Does it bear any significance? Was Benazir’s congratulation to Hasina over phone on the latter’s becoming the prime minister of Bangladesh a mere diplomatic formality?
Mr. Waliur Rahman, former senior career diplomat and now a leading columnist wrote, “It was sad, very sad indeed that the Pakistan Charge de Affairs in Dhaka failed to show up. It certainly did not bring any honor to Pakistan and its leaders. Have not they made enough blunders in the past?”
He further pointed out: “we must not forget that inter-state relationship cannot grow out of insincere or unclear policies. It is essential a priori condition to recognize the ethos of this country’s creation to have normal, friendly bi-lateral relations.”
To speak the truth, Bangladesh-Pakistan relations should not be allowed and encouraged to move in the ongoing apparently negative direction overshadowed by mere political motive as and when required. It is for the betterment of the peoples of these two Muslim countries, for the enhancement of the concept of ‘SAARC spirit’, for the overall changing scenario at national bi-lateral and regional and international politics and relations that a comprehensive, integrated pragmatic “confidence-building frame” should be formulated, developed, followed, and continued. This can without any question or argument only be done by strong political leaderships equipped with determined political vision and will.
So the matter needs to be settled having talks at the summit level between the prime ministers of the two countries. It cannot be missed here that Benazir Bhutto during her last visit to Bangladesh refused to accept the stranded Pakistanis as citizens of Pakistan referring them as only Bihari and her stand has not changed since then. On the other hand, Pakistan put forward logic that it required 500 million us dollars to fly them home and rehabilitate accordingly. A trust backed by Rabitat-Al-Islamia, a Saudi Arabia based Islamic humanitarian organization, was set up by Pakistan in 1988 to raise the fund. Until 1991 it could mobilize only 15 million US dollars and since then the project has been left frozen.
Today Sheikh Hasina and Benazir Bhutto on account of their having a lot of similarities in their in their respective perspectives have to take into account the visit of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, then prime minister of Bangladesh, to Pakistan in 1974 to attend the OIC summit and his talks with ZA Bhutto, then prime minister of Pakistan. Attention shall have to be given also to the visit of ZA Bhutto to Bangladesh in 1974 and his understanding with Bangabandhu on different bilateral issues which still today remain unresolved.
If Pakistan is sincere enough to have better relation with Bangladesh, she has to be serious and careful about the immediate removal of the bottlenecks that have meanwhile soured the relations. There is no denying the fact that there is no possibility of any war between Bangladesh and Pakistan. Let this very reality be realized by the present leaderships of the two countries.
First of all, the office of high commissioner, the highest in the diplomatic mission of these two countries, now being enjoyed by career diplomats immediately be replaced by outstanding political personalities with enough maturity, integrity and sophistication to put the right thing on the right track so that the next course of action may run accordingly yielding mutually rewarding benefits at the optimum level in its entirety. It has historically been proved that any political initiative and maneuvering by political leaders instead of career diplomats were more dependable, acceptable and workable to break the ice in any issue having a political perspective and the same is also true in case of Bangladesh-Pakistan relations.
Iran’s offer to mediate between Bangladesh and Pakistan may be considered. But, Bangladesh must be cautious about her point and logic while dealing with Pakistan so that there may not be any corresponding negative impact on Bangladesh-India relations.
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