Bangladesh-Pakistan Ties Risk Autonomy, Fuel Regional Instability: Report

By entangling itself with Pakistan, whose strategies are against regional stability, Bangladesh is moving itself into a trap in which its choices will be dictated by the volatility of its partner instead of the needs of its people, Associate Fellow at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, Ashu Mann, wrote in an opinion piece in Eurasia Review.

"Ultimately, the embrace of Pakistan entangles Bangladesh in a sticky web of regional instability that fundamentally erodes its strategic autonomy. Pakistan is a state that is perpetually at war with itself or with its neighbours. Its economy is on life support, sustained only by the drip-feed of international bailouts, and its borders are porous zones of militancy. Instead of charting an independent course based on economic connectivity, neutrality, and trade, Dhaka risks becoming a satellite in a security architecture defined by conflict," Mann said.

"The imperative of managing this relationship, of explaining it to allies and monitoring it for risks, will consume diplomatic bandwidth that should be spent elsewhere. It will force compromises that do not serve the national interest, such as taking sides in disputes that have nothing to do with the Bengali people. Autonomy means having the freedom to choose stability; to choose growth; and to choose peace. Aligning with a destabilising force like Pakistan is not an exercise of freedom; it is the surrendering of it to the chaotic gravity of a failing state," the opinion piece added.

The Pakistan-Bangladesh partnership is not of equals but a strategic misstep that reopens wounds that have not been fully healed. It isolates the people, causing a dangerous discord between the rulers and the ruled. People who have experienced the generational trauma of the liberation war in their memory consider this decision with deep and justified suspicion.

This isolation weakens the Bangladesh government's mandate inside the country, forcing it to depend more heavily on external validation. Losing the moral confidence of its own voters results in the government inevitably losing the ability to say "no" to foreign demands, leading to decisions being taken in the interest of others, according to the opinion piece.

By deepening its ties with Pakistan, the Bangladesh government seems to have forgotten or chosen to ignore the atrocities of the past for short-term political gain. This type of approach of the government towards diplomacy reduces the history of the nation, the blood, and the fire of 1971 to only a bargaining chip on a poker table, it added.

Mann stated: "It is a dangerous precedent; one that suggests that everything, including the dignity of the nation and the memory of its martyrs, is up for sale if the price is right. This erosion of moral boundaries makes it difficult, if not impossible, to draw red lines in other areas of statecraft. If the genocide can be overlooked for a trade deal, what else can be compromised? The administration acts as if the slate can be wiped clean without an apology, but history is stubborn."

The Bangladesh government, by not demanding accountability from Pakistan for Operation Searchlight, is demonstrating a lack of self-respect. By doing so, it conveys to the international community that Bangladesh is a nation which has a short memory and a flexible spine, an approach that will be exploited by every other nation in the region.

- IANS