Khaleda Zia’s India legacy softens amid new equations
India-Bangladesh ties became strained during Zia’s rule, although Zia maintained a working relationship with India. His son and successor Rahman, who is likely to be the next prime minister, was once a plunderer of India but now appears to have softened his stance towards India. The new political equations that emerge as the elections approach show that the BNP will move away from its radical agenda and adopt a more liberal stance. This would be a welcome development in the BNP’s attitude towards India.
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The rise of Khaleda Zia
The political rivalry between Zia and Hasina, known as the “begum war”, has shaped Bangladesh’s political landscape for decades. The origins of their hostility date back to the assassination of Hasina’s father, Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in a 1975 military coup. Several other family members were also killed.
Zia’s husband, Ziaur Rahman, was deputy army chief at the time and took control of the government three months later. He initiated economic reforms in the impoverished country but was himself assassinated in a military coup in 1981.
Although initially rejected as a politically inexperienced housewife, Zia became the leader of the BNP and opposed the dictatorship of Hussain Muhammad Ershad. She led protests and boycotted elections in 1986, eventually joining forces with Hasina to oust Ershad in 1990.
In the following years, Zia and Hasina alternated in power; Zia served as Prime Minister between 1991-1996 and 2001-2006. Hasina’s tenure, in power since 2008, has been marked by a crackdown on BNP members. Zia’s conviction on corruption charges in 2018 was described as politically motivated by his party. He was left under house arrest on the condition that he not participate in politics and not receive treatment abroad.
Zia’s first term as prime minister was credited with the liberalization of Bangladesh’s economy in the early 1990s, leading to decades of economic growth. But her second term was marred by allegations of corruption against her administration and her sons, as well as a series of Islamist attacks, one of which nearly killed Hasina.
While he was imprisoned, his eldest son Tarique Rahman ran the BNP from exile in London. He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment for his alleged involvement in the bomb attack on a Hasina rally in 2004. He returned to Bangladesh a few days ago after being acquitted in many cases recently.
Also Read: Khaleda Zia: Bangladesh’s first female Prime Minister of Indian origin and a decades-long rivalry with Sheikh Hasina
India-Bangladesh relations under Khaleda Zia
During Zia’s tenure, anti-India forces were free to use Bangladesh as a staging point for terrorism and other subversive activities. Pakistan’s ISI maintained a strong presence in Dhaka during Zia’s final years in power, between 2001 and 2006, and was instrumental behind a series of terror attacks in India through terror groups. Rebel groups in India’s northeast were operating from bases in Bangladesh during BNP rule, allegedly under the aegis of the ISI. After Hasina returned to power, she ordered a crackdown and handed over the rebel leaders to India.
Bangladeshi terrorist organization HuJI had close relations with Pakistani militant organizations. Most of the perpetrators of ISI-backed terror attacks in India had either infiltrated through Bangladesh or fled to the neighboring country after the attacks.
There were many other examples of ISI’s connection with Bangladesh during Zia’s rule: ISI’s drafting of Zia’s election law in 1991, a statement made by none other than former ISI chief Assad Durani; NSCN cadres who went from Dhaka to Pakistan to receive guerrilla warfare training in March 1996; An ISI-sponsored technical expert trains Ulfa in the operation and installation of communications equipment in the Nagaland camp; the detention of NSCN(IM) chief T Muivah on his way back from Karachi after allegedly inspecting an arms shipment at Bangkok airport in January 2000; and the revelation that the arrested All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) cadres had provided assistance of $20,000 to the tune of Tk 58 lakh to the outfit by the ISI and also provided weapons training to eight ATTF cadres in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 1997.
Ahead of the elections in 2014, Bangladeshi intelligence agencies told India about ISI’s efforts to revive terror groups in Bangladesh in support of Khaleda Zia’s exiled son Tarique Rahman, ET reported. Tarique, who virtually ruled the country as BNP leader from 2001-06 while his mother was in office for a second term, was accused of maintaining close ties with ISI and terror operatives, including Ulfa chief Paresh Baruah and mafia kingpin Dawood Ibrahim.
In 2019 too, the ISI tried hard to facilitate the return to power of the pro-Pakistan BNP and the radical Jamaat-e-Islami through candidate selection and channeling of funds in the parliamentary elections through its Dubai-based agents, ET reported. The role of the Pak High Commission in interfering in Bangladesh’s domestic politics ahead of the elections was revealed when Pakistani diplomats met with senior BNP leaders several times.
China has also been a close ally of the BNP from the beginning. BNP’s 19-article political manifesto is similar to the manifesto of the Chinese Communist Party. China, which opposed the liberation war in East Pakistan in 1971, recognized Bangladesh only after Mujib’s assassination and subsequently developed close relations with the Bangladesh Army. The China-Pakistan alliance has been staunch supporters of the BNP and the radical Jamaat-e-Islami.
BNP’s evolving India stance
Rahman, who once acted against India’s interests during the BNP-Jamaat rule in 2001-06 and allegedly maintained close ties with Pakistan’s ISI, had refrained from making any anti-India statements following the coup against pro-India Sheikh Hasina last year.
Instead, his party, BNP, claimed that if voted to power, it would try to mend fences with India for a healthy bilateral partnership. The last BNP government (2001-06), which had the radical pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami as its alliance partner, did not share smooth relations with India. But now Jamaat-e-Islami has joined hands with the National Citizen Party (NCP), a political party made up of student leaders that led protests last year that led to a coup against Hasina and her ouster.
Earlier, Jamaat-e-Islami was a close ally of the BNP. Now the BNP is trying to reposition itself as a liberal party.
Speaking at a huge rally held in Dhaka to welcome him after his return from England a few days ago, Rahman said Bangladesh is home to people from the hills and plains, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. He spoke about his goal of creating a safe Bangladesh where every woman, man and child can leave their home and return safely. According to ET’s report, Bangladesh observers claim that Jamaat-e-Islami and other radical groups are concerned about the BNP’s approach to engaging with India if voted to power. The recent violence by radicals appeared to be aimed at sabotaging the general elections in February.
