Outlining proposed new direction of foreign policy

S. M. Rashed Ahmed

PHOTO: AFP

Those colleagues of mine who started their career, like me, as an erstwhile Pakistan Foreign Service (PFS) officer would recall that the dominant theme of Pakistan foreign policy was characterized by 'fear, mistrust and suspicion' of India stemming, among others, largely from the mayhem of partition and the Kashmir conflict coming so soon in the heels of partition. In contrast, Bangladesh foreign policy after independence was, understandably, characterized by unprecedented good will and friendship for India and its people for their sacrifice and support for the liberation of Bangladesh. But sadly the goodwill and sprit of friendship seemed to have been affected down the road to the extent that the foreign policy of Bangladesh tended to be often characterized by 'mistrust, distrust and suspicion' of India.

For this unacceptable state of affairs it would be prudent to avoid the usual practice of indulging in blame-game on either side as this would inhibit us from moving forward and keep us locked as eternal prisoners of the past. What is called for is for Bangladesh and India to move together with seriousness and genuine commitment to bridge the trust deficit with solid mutual understanding to achieve the goal of cooperative and friendly relationship between the two countries. In this context it may be useful to remind ourselves of a truism namely, that in the realm of foreign policy and diplomacy there are 'no permanent friends or enemies'; that expectation of eternal gratitude do not constitute durable basis of inter-state relationship as history would demonstrate; while a country should not 'negotiate out of fear, it should not fear to negotiate' but the outcome of negotiations to be successful should lead to a win-win situation for parties involved.

While dwelling on regional and sub regional cooperation I purposely started with India which is obviously the key to the success of SAARC and sub regional cooperation. Moreover, pure bilateral negotiations with India on crucial issues for so many years have not yielded the degree of break-through one would have expected to restore Bangladesh India relationship to a friendly cooperative relationship that we all desire and which is sine quo non for the success of regional and sub regional initiatives. The relationship has regretfully got entangled in narrow bureaucratic technicalities and inertia. It is just not a question of perception or misperception, as some experts believe, which has contributed to the present state of our bilateral relationship. There are hard core issues involving our security and development which need to be resolved with India without delay to clear the debris of mutual mistrust and pave the way for a genuine friendly relationship with India.

PHOTO: AFP

In calling for a reappraisal of Bangladesh foreign policy direction I have, therefore, emphasized the need for Bangladesh to give greater attention to regional and sub regional cooperation in tandem with bilaterism. It is noteworthy that critical issues involving water, connectivity, energy, transport and communication, trade, investment, economic cooperation, terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and so on can be more effectively dealt within the regional and sub regional framework for obvious reasons.

In this context it would be prudent to begin with certain long standing pending issues of purely bilateral nature which should have been resolved by now; their non-resolution has significantly contributed to the present state of trust deficit between the two countries. These, briefly, are the undemarcated land and maritime boundary, drawing up of riverine boundaries, exchange of enclaves and adversely possessed territories, erection of permanent boundary pillars, the handing over of the tin bigha corridor and implementation of Indira-Mujib Agreement: the 1974 land boundary Agreement. Although Bangladesh ratified the agreement soon after its conclusion India is yet to ratify it as 6.5 km still needs to be demarcated. Non demarcation of border has led to some serious border clashes including continued killing of Bangladeshi civilians by the BSF, the latest being the tragic killing of Felani, a 15 year Bangladeshi girl which has evoked outbust of public anger and sorrow at this end. The single unresolved boundary issue is greatly agitating the public mind in Bangladesh and feeding into negative sentiments towards India. One would have thought that this unresolved border demarcation issue would have been finalized during the last visit of PM Sheikh Hasina to Delhi.

The other thorny issue has been India's persistent allegation that Bangladesh gave shelter to the Indian insurgents particularly from the north east, though Bangladesh has consistently denied it.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has strongly reiterated that Bangladesh will never allow its territory to be used against India and according to Indian media reports Bangladesh has handed over a number of insurgent leaders to India after the grand alliance came to power. Even then I was surprised to read in a Bengali daily recently a repeat of the same allegation against Bangladesh and this time from the Chief Minister of Tripura. I cannot find any rational or logical explanation as to why any government in Bangladesh, irrespective of whichever party is in power, should allow use of Bangladesh territory against India which is fraught with serious consequences involving not only possibility of retaliatory action but more importantly could jeopardize the prospect of friendly relationship with India and its people.

PHOTO: AFP

Surely we did not achieve independence to fight a proxy battle on behalf of someone else; it is to protect our independence and promote our national interest. Bangladesh should make its position unequivocally clear to the people at large so that this critical issue is resolved once and for all. In these days of democracy public diplomacy has to replace secret diplomacy on such sensitive issues having serious security implications and which could expose Bangladesh to such high risk and costs.

We would need to ensure now through serious negotiations at the highest political levels that, these pressing bilateral issues are resolved and publicly announced during the forthcoming visit of the Indian PM Manmohan Singh to Dhaka. These should include, but be not limited to, the resolution of the boundary issues I have detailed earlier; total stop to the killing of Bangladeshi civilians by the BSF and BSF incursions which cannot be justified on any ground whatsoever; Teesta water sharing agreement; amicable solution to Tipaimukh dam issue; and reduction of trade imbalance through removal of all tariff and non tariff barriers for easy entry of Bangladeshi goods to India.

The resolution of these thorny purely bilateral issues outlined above should pave the way for moving concretely into achieving real progress on key issues of water, connectivity, energy, transport and communication, trade, investment and economic cooperation, terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and so on. These key issues, I feel, would have a better chance of resolution if we combine bilateral, regional and sub regional and intra regional approaches. We have seen that limiting these key issues to purely bilateral discussion and negotiations has not yielded positive results so far.

I have other compelling reasons for advocating a greater emphasis on regional, sub regional and intra regional cooperation in the context of my proposed new direction of Bangladesh foreign policy and diplomacy in 2011 for a number of reasons.

The twin objectives of the foreign policy is said to be (i) security and (ii) development. Security is generally viewed in physical or military terms; without minimizing its importance there appears to be a tendency to relegate the non military aspect of security to the background fundamentally involving human resource development, poverty alleviation and so on. The linkage between the military security and non military security can hardly be overemphasized; when we speak of the menace of terrorism, militancy and extremism we often fail to take into account that in the ultimate analysis the success in overcoming these is contingent upon winning the hearts and minds of the people. Fighting these through only military means or use of force is only fighting the symptom and not the disease. Sonia Gandhi has rightly said that poverty is at the root of the Maoist insurgency and emphasized the need for 'development initiatives to reach the grass roots'. This equally applies to terrorism, militancy and extremism in all its forms and manifestations wherever it occurs and whatever be the source.

PHOTO: Amirul Rajiv

The UNDP Human Development report 2010 in its multi dimensional poverty indicators which reflect “acute deprivations in heath, education and standard of living reveal that” half the world's multi- dimensionally poor live in South Asia (844 million people) in contrast more than a quarter live in Africa (458 million). This underlies the key challenge and the need for mobilization of collective Political Will and Resources of South Asian countires to overcome the grim challenges of poverty and development.

And this goal can only be achieved in an environment of peace and stability. Peace is no longer an option; it is imperative need of the hour without which South Asia would continue to remain mired in poverty and backwardness as the poorest region of the world with the highest concentration of population. It is a time bomb ticking under our feet; we need to defuse it collectively now through Peace and Development. And the most effective way to do it, to my mind, is through regional, sub regional and intra regional cooperation in all the critical areas.

This would lead to undoing the negative consequences of partition and the manner it was effected; we would need to make SAARC and the sub regional cooperation a concrete reality transforming the minds and lives of the people of South Asia by following the successful models of EU and ASEAN of conflict resolution, peace and development and subsuming the narrow interests for achieving the larger vision in the context of an emerging borderless economy.

To translate the goal of the foreign policy and diplomacy of security, (military and nonmilitary); development and poverty alleviation we would need to collectively address, among others, the critical issues of water, connectivity, transport, energy, trade, investment and economic cooperation, terrorism, drugs and human trafficking.

There is a global shortage of water to the extent that the concern over possibility of a larger conflict involving water has been voiced and this applies to our region also. Focusing on equitable sharing through bilateral negotiation with India will not resolve the issue as there is a growing need for water in India itself. China is also reportedly planning to build a dam or diversion project on the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra.

This underscores the urgency of collaboration involving China, India, Bangladesh and Nepal for maximizing the water resources of the region. This would open a new opportunity, among others, for overcoming the critical shortages of water and the long term need of water of the Himalayan river countires; this would also provide new opening for connectivity, trade, tourism and crucially for overcoming the challenges for development, poverty alleviation, climate change and disaster management. We have to go beyond the principle of equitable utilization by providing for integrated river basin management.

PHOTO: AFP

As regards connectivity it would be prudent and much more beneficial to have a comprehensive regional and sub regional approach within the broader framework. Some important decisions were taken during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India and China for improving rail, road, river and sea port connectivity between Bangladesh, north east India, south China, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. The Kunming initiative and the implementation of regional deep-sea port project at Chittagong are of significant importance.

Bangladesh can leverage its geographical location to build links with the Asean countires and develop new markets for its goods within the context of regional and sub regional economic integration with its neighbours.

Of the existing frameworks the most useful seem to be the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) embracing the South Asian nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka with Asean members of Thailand and Myanmar which can act as an effective bridge between ASEAN and SAARC. Bangladesh's participation in The Trans-Asian Railway and the Asain Highway Network would greatly assist the process of the larger goal of connectivity. Bangladesh may give serious consideration to joining the Trilateral Highway Project involving India, Myanmar and Thailand and Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC) project to realize its goal of Asian integration. Bangladesh should play a key role in giving concrete shape and reality to the concept of connectivity in this larger framework. This will ensure full support of the people.

On energy, similarly all South Asian countries are facing acute shortage of energy. Like water this is a global challenge which carries with it potentials for conflict as well as cooperation. Opting for cooperation is the only rational and sensible way out. In this context Bangladesh's proposal for regional grid connectivity under SAARC regional collaboration to utilize the sources of energy including hydro electricity, solar power, wind power and bio fuels energy, latest fuel sale technologies could assist in overcoming challenges of critical energy shortage coupled with its growing need for development. There is urgent need for cooperation at bilateral, sub regional and regional levels for implementation of proposed regional power grid. This has to be supplemented through achievement of domestic consensus on the exploration and development of our own gas and coal reserves using clean technologies.

In other key areas including environment and climate change, fuel security, poverty alleviation and development, trade, investment, and economic cooperation, cross border crime and terrorism, drugs, trafficking etc should be tackled collectively due to the interdependent and complementary nature of their relationship as stated earlier. In this context there is imperative need to implement without further delay agreements on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) which could increase trade among SAARC countries; the establishment of the SAARC Development Fund that would support poverty-alleviation projects; the adoption of the SAARC Action Plan on Climate Change to address the alarming threats of climate change; SAARC food Bank to ease the growing concern over a possible food crisis in the region; SAARC Regional Convention On Suppression Of Terrorism; SAARC convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters; and various other decisions and initiatives taken at regional and sub regional levels including the vision of a phased process leading to a South Asian Economic Union (SAEU).

As a way forward Bangladesh should take the lead in this respect by infusing a real sense of urgency and dynamism for implementation of vital decisions taken in key areas of regional and sub regional cooperation which are yet to be implemented. Such a review could perhaps be done at the highest political levels to be followed by meetings at the other effective levels. Specifically, the sensitive and key issues of connectivity, terrorism, energy, transport and communication, water, trade, investment and economic cooperation, tourism, drugs and human trafficking need to be reviewed by the South Asian Countries perhaps at a special/extra ordinary summit of SAARC Heads of state/Governments; (b) the implementation of decisions taken at the summit level should be carefully monitored by regular meetings at the effective political levels to give direction and guidance to the officials and experts involved in the implementation process. Otherwise the peace initiative will get bogged down due to possible wrangling over technicalities at the bureaucratic/expert levels; (c) we would need to ensure that the media and the civil society are fully involved in the process so that public opinion could be mobilized and sustained for the success of the peace initiative.

In a visibly moving speech Tun Channareth, a Cambodian activist who lost both his legs to a landmine said “My handicaps are quite visible. They can remind us of the invisible handicaps we all have… the 'landmines of the heart.' These landmines inside can lead us to war, to jealousy, to cruel power over others. If we ban landmines of the heart along with landmines in the earth, the needs of the poor will take priority over the wants of the rich, the freedom of the dominated over the liberty of the powerful…….together we can stop a coward's war that makes victims of us all.”

We will need to defuse the 'land mines in the hearts' and minds of our leaders and the people in South Asia; as Tun Channareth said to overcome the condition of multi dimensional poverty which in turn has bred war and conflicts, large and small, involving religion, ethnicity, of extremism, terrorism, militancy, fundamentalism and communalism; it is blocking us from substantively embracing change, modernization and pragmatism and moving away from outmoded, inherited ideas, habits and mindsets 'The difficulty lies not in the new ideas but in escaping from the old one' as John Maynard Keynes observed.

It is time not only to escape from old ideas but also from remaining entrapped as prisoners of the past and to interpret history to justify our continued, among others religious, ethnic and social prejudices which are endemic in South Asia; we do not need a rocket science or Ph. D. thesis to overcome this situation; we can do so by learning, adapting and putting into practice what other countries in similar stages of development have done to achieve Modernization and critical reforms based on pragmatic policies and actions.

In Asia Japan was the first to borrow the concept of modernization, pragmatism and reform from the West and by tailoring this to its requirements Japan surged ahead of the rest of Asia because it understood the message of Western success almost a hundred and fifty years earlier. This was followed by South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and now India and China are in the process of achieving it; though China has only adopted and adapted the market economy of the West within its centralized political structure, the democratic sprit of openness to new ideas and innovative technologies for progress are clearly there.

Significantly, China's modernization has already reduced hundreds of millions of Chinese people from living in absolute poverty. The Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who engineered China's modernization, rightly based his policies and actions on pragmatism and rationalism shorn of any ideological considerations; his observation “It does not matter whether the cat is black or white; if it catches mice, it is a good cat” reflects his approach.

Similarly, India has made significant progress and development in its drove towards modernization since the process of economic liberalization initiated by Manmohan Singh as the finance minister. It has made impressive achievements in economic growth particularly in IT, technology and science but India is also gripped by Maoist insurgency and unrest due to unresolved issues of conflict and multi dimensional poverty affecting those left behind by Indian economic boom. For India to achieve the status of a super power she has to help ensure peace and stability in her neighborhood by, among others, strengthening the SAARC as well as sub regional cooperation and initiatives.

Crucially to achieve a developed South Asia through modernization and pragmatism we have to follow the best practices of the West by absorbing the culture of peace that has characterized relations among the western states since the end of World War II; not just zero war but zero prospect of war between any two Western nations. The East and South East Asians have also imbibed this culture of peace as is evident from the sound of silenced gun. ASEAN is committed to peaceful conflict resolution and has developed new pattern of cooperation involving ASEAN+3 (China, Japan, South Korea) ARF, APEC, ASEM and EAS.

The chill and cold which gripped South Asian countires leading to so many tragic deaths and untold sufferings particularly of the children and the aged is a chilling reminder that a significant number of humanity live below poverty line in South Asian countires; and that the agenda for peace, development and modernization can no longer be postponed; this has to be and can be achieved through the collective will and efforts of South Asian countires within the larger framework of regional and sub regional cooperation.

The outline of the proposed new direction of Bangladesh foreign policy 2011 and the peace initiative would be, I believe, a modest contribution in this respect. The support, among others, of India and the neighboring countires, China, US, Japan, Korea, the EC and the ASEAN would be crucial for its success.

The writer is a former UN Regional Representative in KOSOVO and former Bangladesh Ambassador to JAPAN.