AS Australia beat India in cricket World Cup final match held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 20 November 2023, Bangladeshi cricket fans rejoiced, contrary to Indian expectations of sharing their sorrow. To the horror of Indian cricket fans, a post by a Bangladesh national on X, formerly Twitter, that became popular said, “We are happier that India lost. Even Bangladesh winning the World Cup wouldn’t have made us this happy.” It created a storm on social media platforms in India and a war of words ensued between people of the two countries. The episode, indeed,was a microcosm of anti-India sentiment prevailing among the people of Bangladesh.
Antipathy for India in Bangladesh has its roots in the many wrongs India has done to Bangladesh, which is surrounded by India from three sides. Bangladeshi writer and political historiographer Mohiuddin Ahmad in his interview with Times of India on 23 November 2023underscored that India’s interference in domestic politics of Bangladesh and dispute over the sharing of water were two of the major reasons behind anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh. People have also not forgotten India’s support for Shanti Bahini militants, who fought for an independent state within Bangladesh from 1975 to 1997. The New York Times in its 11 July 1989 issue quoted BimalChakma, spokesman of the Shanti Bahini rebels,as saying that Indian officials began providing arms and money to the secessionist movement in 1976. He admitted that Indian government had provided them weapons to fight against Bangladeshi forces.
Bangladesh is not the only country which feels troubled by bullish big brother attitude of India. New Delhi has problems with all its neighbours. Indian toolbox to target its South Asian neighbours and impede their growth includes state-sponsored terrorism, economic strangulation, support for secessionist movements, interference in internal affairs, unjust territorial claims, false flag operations and military aggression.
Mr ZamirAkram,former Ambassador of Pakistan, in his book “The Security Imperative: Pakistan’s Nuclear Deterrence and Diplomacy” has underlined that “India has outstanding disputes with all of its neighbours. India has used its size and military muscles to annex Sikkim, balkanise Bhutan, dominate Nepal and repeatedly interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bangladesh.” He states that “even with more powerful China, New Delhi has laid claim to colonial-era borders which led to the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and continuing territorial disputes that perpetrated border clashes in 2020.” The BJP government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to fortify India’s ties with distant nations, but has failed to inspire confidencein its neighbourhood. In November 2023, the new President of Maldives Mohamed Muizzu, on the second day after he was sworn in, officially asked India to withdraw its military personnel from his country. The people of Maldives are frustrated because of the trade imbalance between the two countries, which has been in favor of India, and New Delhi’s meddling in Male’s internal affairs.
Nepal too has also been a victim of New Delhi’s strong-arm tactic. India imposed an unofficial blockade of Nepalafter Kathmandu amended its constitution in August 2015 to propose new federal boundaries.It crippled life in the country for six months.In November 2019, India released a new map which incorporated Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura areas, which are claimed by Nepal, as part of India. Kathmandu, in response, protested and in 2020 issued a map which showed the three areas as part of Nepal.Such exploitative attitude and pressure tactics fueled anti-India sentiment in Nepal.
Bhutan, which is surrounded by India from three sides is not happy with India either. India had confiscated Bhutan’s sovereignty for almost 58 years with an unjust Treaty of Friendship signed on 9 August 1949. Article 2 of the Treaty stated that “…the Government of Bhutan agrees to be guided by the advice of the Government of India in regard to its external relations.” It was only in 2007 that the renewed Treaty granted Bhutan freedom to make its own foreign policy. Sri Lanka remained a victim of India’s unjust behavior until it won the war against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009. The militant organization was funded by New Delhi and the Tamil militants were provided safe havens in India. India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi supported LTTE separatists in their failed attempt to create a Tamil state within Sri Lanka, which pushed the state towards instability for almost three decades. Former LTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan (“KP”), in his interview to Indian newspaper First Post on 23 May 2011 had revealed that “India started training the Tamil rebels in the early 1980s around the time when peace talks were floundering.” He further said, “So we (LTTE) had a base in Tamil Nadu. We had a (military) base in India. All the four Tamil (militant) groups, very strong groups, were trained and armed by India.”
In order to establish its dominance over the regional states, India has been supporting non-state actors in its neighbourhood and brazenly using terrorism as a foreign policy tool, while weeping crocodile tears to present itself as a victim of terrorism to domestic audience and international community. India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan is known globally. In 2016,KulbhushanYadav, a serving Indian naval commander working for Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW),who was caught in Balochistan, admitted that he was sent to destabilize Pakistan. In his confession he admitted having committed acts of terrorism in Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan which resulted in the deaths of many innocent people. India used its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan during the two decades long presence of NATO troops in the country to export terrorism to Pakistan.
Islamabad has taken the case of India’s terrorist activities in Pakistan to international community many times and has also submitted dossiers to UN SecretaryGeneral containing irrefutable evidence of India’s involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. However, international community’s inaction for geopolitical considerations has emboldened India to push its terror envelope to target nationals of Western countries, in particular the US, Canada and the UK.
As a consequence of India’s unfriendly, oppressive and aggressive behaviour ,its neighbourshave been looking toward China for partnership and development. China has done severaldevelopment projects in South Asian countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It is quite apparent that while China pursues partnership for development with regional countries, India practices jingoism, brinkmanship, and aggression against its neighbouring countries, in pursuance of its hegemonic design in South Asia. New Delhi, however, needs to pay attention to what its former Prime Minister AtalBihari Vajpayee said in 2003, “Friends can be changed but not neighbours.” This is particularly true in the context of India’s futile efforts to browbeat Pakistan, a nuclear-weapon state.
—The writer isDirector Research at Center for
International Strategic Studies Sindh, Karachi.
Email: aftab [email protected]
views expressed are writer’s own.
