International relations, especially with India, is now the ‘cause celebre’ since speculation is rife over the anticipated Delhi visit by the Bangladesh Prime Minister.
An official trip to India will happen, now, few moths later or, in a year.
Since both nations are neighbours, such a face to face engagement is inevitable, whatever the timeframe.
The question of course is whether this will take place within the next few days or not.
People in both countries and across the social spectrum have made comments on the proposed visit and, the incident which turned out to be the fly in the ointment.
Any person understands that if members of a proscribed political party and its leader were not allowed to make public statements from Indian soil on August 5, the visit of the Bangladeshi PM would possibly have gone ahead.
In the post August 5 scenario, bilateral relations cannot be defined in pure black and white as several imponderables have crept in.
While the fallout of the August 5 press meet in India continues to reverberate, several comments by former Indian diplomats are also adding fuel to the ongoing dispute.
Instead of going into detail about who said what, the general message coming from many India former diplomats appear to avoid/undermine the socio-political aberrations which triggered the July-Aug uprising paving way for the seismic changes in Bangladesh.
In fact, apart from a few sensible voices which acknowledge electoral malfeasance and other anomalies as the trigger for the uprising, majority of the narratives are skewed.
Such comments, which deliberately ignore realities on the ground plus the grievances of the people of Bangladesh prior to July 2024, can achieve little in creating a space for the bonhomie to return.
Bangladesh and India are intertwined by geography.
Socially and culturally, there are numerous similarities and realistically speaking, for the sake of friendly neighbourly relations, the differences ought to be cleared with genuine commitment from both sides.
That means, backing up rhetoric about warm ties with action.
Walk the talk, as they say!
At this moment, the ties are strained although when the Aug 5 press conference was allowed to take place, the implications should have been taken into account.
Or maybe the feeling was, let it happen and then we will tackle the fallout.
Shoot first, think later may have worked in the Wild West but in modern day geopolitics, the idea: think first, act with reason and never go for the trigger ensures better outcome.
The eventual mess from acting first without thinking is casting a shadow now on global economy with the Iran-USA ‘wax and wane’ tussle keeping the rest of the globe on tenterhooks.
From where the bilateral relations currently stand, it’s clear that only dialogue will not carve the path to normalcy.
Some concessions need to be made.
One veteran Indian diplomat is believed to have said that the former PM, currently in India, did not flee but was sent to India for her safety.
Then what about the other party members of the fallen regime who were seen during the Aug 5 press meet?
As far as one knows, they were not ‘escorted’ out.
Leaving politics aside, both nations need to improve relations because trade, tourism, medical tourism are concerned.
While the relations continue to be on rough waters, both sides can adopt a novel strategy: allow the general people to make their observations about the need to mend the fences.
Admittedly all relations go through unstable periods with India and Bangladesh experiencing such stressful moments before.
If memory serves correctly, way back in 1985, tensions between the two resulted in an exchange of mortar shells.
Thankfully, we are living in far more reasonable times now and, therefore, logic and sense should prevail.
All relations go through tough times, but when both sides are willing to talk over the differences and decide to make some palpable moves, the bond becomes stronger.
Hopefully, our PM Tarique Rahman will go to India and we look forward to fruitful talks but maybe after the dust has settled and without rushing.
Friendship with our neighbour is invaluable, but that definition of friendship involves two sides expressing their views clearly and not one side dictating and the other passively complying.
