Two suspects in the murder of a popular Bangladeshi youth leader have fled across the border into India. This was stated by the police in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Sunday. However, the Indian border guard has this no proof and calls the statement “unfounded”. It is yet another point of contention in the drastically deteriorated relationship between the South Asian neighbors this month.
India and Bangladesh accuse each other of destabilizing the relationship and not sufficiently guaranteeing the security of diplomatic missions. The neighboring countries summoned each other’s high commissioners, similar to ambassadors, and suspended visa extensions. The tense relationship also manifests itself on the street.
Sharif Osman Hadi, who was shot by masked men on December 12, was a key figure in the student movement that toppled dictator Sheikh Hasina last August. He saw India as an ally of Hasina and her Awami League party. Hadi’s murder has fueled the already prevailing anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh.
Indian politics is concerned about this “anti-Indian narrative”. In a recent report by the Indian Parliamentary Committee for foreign policy it is called a major challenge in the deterioration of relations since Hasina’s ouster.
At the same time, extremist violence appears to be increasing in the political chaos in Bangladesh, with two Hindus becoming victims in recent weeks. Shortly before it was announced that student leader Hadi had died from his wounds, 27-year-old textile worker Dipu Chandra Das was lynched and burned by a mob in Mymensingh, northern Bangladesh. He was accused of blasphemy; that was later deemed unproven by the police. Last Thursday, a second Hindu was beaten to death near the town of Rajbari, according to Bengali newspaper sources The Daily Star in bandage with an extortion case.
Angry demonstrators
The violence in Bangladesh has led to protests in India. The treatment and social status of religious minorities is a sensitive issue in the relationship between the two countries, and also an important issue for the residents. The religious relations in the two countries are mirror images: in India, Muslims form the largest religious minority (about 14 percent), which is increasingly oppressed under the current Hindu nationalist government. At almost 8 percent, Hindus are the largest minority in predominantly Muslim Bangladesh.
In New Delhi, angry demonstrators reportedly tried to enter the Bangladesh embassy building last week. The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed reports about this as “misleading propaganda”.
“Officials in both India and Bangladesh are very aware that the internal situation in Bangladesh is very fluid,” said spokesperson for the Bangladeshi embassy in New Delhi, Faisal Mahmud.
The interim government of Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus refuses to interpret the events as violence against minorities. Das’s murder was an “isolated attack on a Bangladeshi citizen from the Hindu community” but would not amount to “an attack on minority groups.” The second murder “arose in a context of criminal activity.” The Bangladeshi Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to India with these characterizations.
Also in the first weeks after the fall of Hasina, many reports circulated about revenge attacks against Hindus – often Awami League supporters. Then the interim government pointed out those political connections. Since then, Hasina, from India, has often accused Yunus of inadequately protecting the religious minorities in Bangladesh.
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Elections
India’s support for Hasina was largely based on the secular party platform of the Awami League. Hasina ordered police crackdown on members of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh. Since her fall, it has been feared that Islamic politicians will be given more room, including during the elections in February.
That ballot box should mark the real transition to free politics, after fifteen years under Sheikh Hasina. The campaign started under high tension. And India will be closely watching its progress and outcome.
According to press officer Mahmud of the Bangladeshi embassy, India and Bangladesh maintain “a constructive and productive working relationship.” He says that this is also reflected in the report of the Indian Parliamentary Committee. According to him, this shows that “while it closely monitors political developments in Bangladesh and their implications for its national interests, India does not interfere in Bangladesh’s internal political processes.”
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