Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman has said his party wants cordial and stable relations with India but added that New Delhi needs to rethink its foreign policy in the neighbourhood as bilateral ties do not mean interfering in each other’s internal issues.
In an interview with PTI, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s ameer (chief) Rahman said his party supports close ties between India and Bangladesh but also believes Bangladesh should “leave the past behind” and maintain strong and balanced relations with countries like the US, China and Pakistan.
Rahman (65) argued that New Delhi’s perception of Jamaat-e-Islami as anti-India was wrong. “Jamaat-e-Islami is not against any country; this is a wrong perception. We are pro-Bangladesh and are only interested in protecting the interests of Bangladesh,” he said, stressing that this perception needed to change.
Jamaat-e-Islami suggested that it would have been better if former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had not fled to India after resigning due to unrest. He advocated her return to Bangladesh to face the law. He said, ‘India is our neighbour and we want good, stable and harmonious bilateral relations. However, India has done some things in the past which were not liked by the people of Bangladesh.’
He said, ‘For example, during the 2014 Bangladesh elections, a senior Indian diplomat visited Dhaka and instructed who should participate and who should not. This was unacceptable, as this is not the role of a neighbouring country. We believe that India will eventually re-evaluate its foreign policy with regard to Bangladesh. We believe that interference in each other’s internal issues should be avoided.’
Rehman said Jamaat-e-Islami wants India to be its “friend and play a responsible role in bilateral relations”, while stressing that his party accepts its responsibility to improve ties but wants these relations to be “non-interfering in each other’s internal issues”.
“Working together and interfering are two different things. Working together has a positive connotation, while interference is negative. Bilateral relations should mean cooperation and mutual respect. India is our closest neighbour; we share both land and maritime borders, so we should have good relations as you cannot stay away from your neighbour,” he told PTI in Dhaka.
Responding to a question on allegations of attacks on Hindus by Jamaat activists in Bangladesh, Rahman refuted these as ‘baseless’. Rahman blamed a malicious media campaign for the negative portrayal of Jamaat-e-Islami and said that despite being the biggest victim of atrocities committed by the Sheikh Hasina government in the last 15 years, ‘we are still standing firm and Jamaat still has the support of the people.’
On relations with Pakistan, Rahman said, “We want good relations with them too. We want equal and balanced relations with all our neighbours in the subcontinent, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. This balance is very important to maintain stability.” Bangladesh was formerly known as East Pakistan and came into existence as an independent nation after separating from Pakistan following the 1971 Liberation War.
Regarding diplomatic relations with other global powers, Rehman said, “We want balanced and stable relations with world powers like the US and China because in this globalised world we are interconnected in various ways.”
About Sheikh Hasina’s decision to go to India, he said, “It would have been better if she had not fled. I don’t want to use the word extradition, but we believe she should return and face the law in Bangladesh.”
Hasina resigned as prime minister and left the country after unprecedented anti-government protests reached a peak on August 5. She arrived in India on August 5 and is currently staying there, leading to various speculations in Bangladesh.
The interim government of Bangladesh has cancelled the diplomatic passports of ousted Prime Minister Hasina and all members of her former cabinet. Rehman said that whenever elections are held in Bangladesh, Jamaat will participate in them. He said, ‘We believe that the interim government should be given time, but it should not be indefinite. We will make our position clear in time when new elections are held. But whenever elections are held, we will participate.’