View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Knowledge Repository Open Network Indo-Bangladesh Relationship (1971-1990) DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Master of Philosophy By Shahnawaz Ahmad Mantoo Under the Supervision of Dr. Naseema Akhter (Associate Professor) Department of Political Science University of Kashmir Hazratbal, Srinagar Kashmir, J&K India – 190006 2011 DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF KASHMIR, SRINAGAR- 190006 (NAAC Accredited “A” Grade) Certificate This is to certify that the scholar Shahnawaz Ahmad Mantoo has carried out the present dissertation entitled “Indo-Bangladesh Relationship (1971-1990)” under my supervision and the work is suitable for submission for the award of the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Political Science. It is further certified that the work has not been submitted in part or full for the award of this or any other degree elsewhere. Dr. Naseema Akhter (Supervisor) Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba Head of the Department ACKNOWLEDGEMENT At the outset, all praises go to Almighty Allah for his mercy and magnanimity, Who wills and it happens. It gives me immense pleasure to express my deep sense of gratitude to my esteemed supervisor and mentor, Dr. Naseema Akhter, for her ethereal, generous, and inspiring guidance, extensive co-operation, consistent encouragement because of which I did not lose heart even at difficult stages. Her extraordinary desire to see students flourish will always be a source of inspiration for me. I fell short of words to describe her sympathetic, supportive and friendly approach, characteristics of the ideal of ideals. She is an exemplary lady who stands as a symbol of academic excellence, motherly affection and friendly dedication for me as well as for the whole student community. I am extremely thankful to God for gifting me with an exceptionally talented mentor in the form of this great lady. I am thankful to the teaching and non-teaching staff of the department for their generous assistance as well as for their best wishes. I would like to express my thanks to Prof. Noor Ahmad Baba, Head of the Political Science $ Dean Faculty of Social Science, for his timely suggestions and help at various phases of this project. There was equal affectionate and amiable atmosphere that I feel honour to mention was the help extended by senior teachers of the Department whose precious interventions made it more reasonable. I will always be thankful to them for their kind attitude throughout the preparation of this work. All the teachers of the Department: Prof. Noor Ahamad Baba, Pro. Asifa Jan, Dr. Gull Mohammad Wani, Dr. Ravinderjeet Kour, Dr. Nazeer Ahmad, Mr. Javid Ahmad Dar, Dr. Anjum Ara, Dr. Sanjeeda Warsi and last but not least Mr. Aijaz Ashraf Wani. What has come to me inspirational strength was the interaction that I obtained from Dr. Zaglul Haider, Professor of Political Science Department, Rajshahi University (Bangladesh) and Dr. Mohd Aminul Karim, Senior Research Fellow at the Asia-Europe Institute Malya (Malaysia). These veteran people gave me insights and widen the quality of the work. My heart also goes for special thanks to my teachers especially Ghulam Mohammad Mantoo and Ghulam Mohammad Dar for their spiritual, moral and material help. However, what has provided fragrance to the withered bunch of my work was the praise worthy role of my family who of and on assisted me in both cash and kind. I equally owe gleeful gratitude to: Colleagues: Mr. Sajad Ahmad Padder, Mr. Showkat, Ms. Sakeena Hassan, Mr. Bilal Ahmad Ganie, and Ms. Shabnum Nabi, Hostel Friends: Bilal Ahmad Bhat, Tanveer Habib, Shahzad Ahmad, M. Younus Wani, Firdous Ahmad Dar Friends: Sajad Ahmad, Waseem Ahmad, Imtiyaz Ahmad, Aijaz Ahmad, Nasir Ahamd Lastly I extend my thanks to Mr. Majid (Hallmark) for typing this dissertation with patience and zeal. Shahnawaz Ahmad Mantoo Preface The dissertation has been undertaken with logical and analytical means to come across the region that occupies space on the map in the name of South Asia. The region is constituted of many countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Maldives. This region has, since time immemorial, achieved relevance in one way or the other. It had has got to unleash certain geographic, political, economic specialties that made it attractive and subservient to the varied interests. The region for keeping a balance among the nations and arresting hegemony of any one on the scene witnessed voluminous importance, and has caught sharp imaginations of the people. Therefore, its impregnable importance invited big guns like, USA, USSR, China, India, and Pakistan to set the stage right in the region, which otherwise would end in any bitter experience. Their mindful exercises sometimes left the region in the lurch and therefore, what would have blessed it became detrimental force to wither away its resource both manual and material. The region became more imperative and meaningful since the partition of Indian subcontinent, which approved two countries of the said region to appear from a single embryo. The countries, in cumulative argument, that surfaced out of this doleful state were „India and Pakistan‟. The two countries looked all firm to dilute or shrink the geographical boundaries of each other which culminated sometimes into heinous acts. The two nascent countries used main and might to command secure position. This tussle at times motivated only and only with wars which without an iota of doubt played ducks and drags with the potentialities of the two countries. The issues between the two were sometimes pacified by either indulging in dialogues or negotiating with broadmindedness after succumbing to political expediencies. However, what acidified their already wavered taste was appearance of struggle of East Pakistan for the goal of independence. This came as a stigma to the sub-continent and added insult to injury. The people of East Pakistan put everything at stake to see this dream come true. This country came into existence because of the concerted efforts and after a tooth nail fight which shed blood even of intellectuals besides soldiers who fought out in the middle. This ultimately won favours for Bengalese in 1971 and blessed them with what is called „Independence‟. This independence was more celebrated by India than by the Bangladesh, for it answered the political needs of the former and nominally licensed the avoidance of Pakistani incursions which earlier were expected time and again. Keeping in mind the assistance at the dire need of an hour the two countries took pledge to narrow down the gulf and frown upon the concerns that would distance the respective countries from each other. The leadership that was heading took recourse to the policies, visits, agreements and cold headed exchange of dialogues to redress the issues, and get bonded with each other more strictly. This of course paid the two countries to some extent but the pre-mature assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman gave death knell to the infant relations which, therefore, unfortunately went no long. However, after this grave situation the foreign policy of the Bangladesh fell victim to communal understanding and concept of „Muslim‟ and „Hindu‟ began to deteriorate the relation. This at times resulted in aggressive alliance directly or indirectly with Pakistan which was backed by, Arab countries, China, USA etc. These countries played into the hands of an ideology, be it religion, political, or economic which shook the relation with India and ended with suspicion atmosphere. Both countries kept their minds busy to look into the policies that would either won laurels for the respective countries or would facilitate them by dint of providing upper hand over the other. The period particularly up to 1975, which once upon a time was woven to get amicably involved with India and is treated to be honeymoon phase, faded away with the onset of coups and hence, there led to military rule in Bangladesh. Their manifestation did not prove in line with the requirements of the relationship and lacked consistency, broad vision and were led by such motives that barred them from taking any initiative to minimize the differences. Abbreviations ATTF: All Tripura Tiger Force AIML: All-India Muslim League ASEAN: Association of South East Asian Nations BNP: Bangladesh Nationalist Party BDR: Bangladesh Rifles BSF: Border Security Forces CNMA: Central National Mohammadien Association CMLA: Chief Martial Law Administrator CHT: Chittagong Hill Tracts COP: Combined Opposite Parties EP: East Pakistan FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization IMA: Indian Muslim Association INC: Indian National Congress JRC: Joint Rivers Commission KLO: Kamtapur Liberation Organization KPP: Krishak Praja Party ULFA: United Liberation Front of Assam ML: Muslim league NAP: National Awami Party NDC: National Defence Council NDF: National Democratic Front NDFB: National Democratic Front of Bodoland NLFT: National Liberation Front of Tripura NAM: Non-alignment Movement NWFP: North Western Frontier Provinces OIC: Organization of Islamic Countries PPP: Pakistan People‟s Party SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation TCF: Trillion Cubic Feet TNV: Tripura National Volunteers UP: Unionist Party UF: United Front UNCF: United Nations Children Fund ESCAP: United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific UNESCO: United