India to showcase 50 years of India-Bangladesh ties at UNGA session

India and Bangladesh will, for the first time, showcase 50 years of their bilateral relations and the golden jubilee of the Bangladesh liberation struggle during the current session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Exactly 50 years ago, diplomats from both countries played a crucial role together in the recognition of the newly- born Bangladesh. Sources in the Indian Ministry of External affairs, explaining the concept, said, “although the role of the Mukti Bahini and the Indian armed forces in the liberation war of Bangladesh is well known, it is also important to bring attention to the diplomatic initiatives taken by India to raise the issue of Bangladesh’s Independence on a global platform.”

As India and Bangladesh will celebrate the golden jubilee of their diplomatic relations in 2022, India may invite the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina in January 2022. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bangladesh in March this year, to celebrate 50 years of the birth of Bangladesh.

India’s then Permanent Representative at the UN, Samar Sen, had hosted an international conference in support of Bangladesh in September 1971, which 24 countries had attended. It is a pleasant coincidence that both the prime ministers of India and Bangladesh will, this week, be speaking from the same platform of the UNGA within a span of a few hours. Representatives of those 24 countries had, in 1971, voiced their support for the creation of Bangladesh and also extended support to India as it was then faced with a massive refugee situation, when over 10 million people fled from the then East Pakistan in the face of the atrocities and genocide being perpetrated by the Pakistani army.

Earlier, as the Liberation War broke out in March 1971 India, at the height of the Cold War, launched a diplomatic effort to build a case for Bangladesh’s independence through bilateral conversations with leaders of various countries as well as by raising the issue of Pakistan’s atrocities at multilateral platforms such as the United Nations. 

Fifty years ago, on 27th September 1971, at the UN General Assembly, the Indian delegation led by then External Affair Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh apprised the world of the atrocities taking place in what was then still East Pakistan. Speaking at the Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly, Singh spoke of the reign of terror that prevailed. He also called upon Pakistan to release Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who was in Pakistan’s custody.

“The International Red Cross was not allowed to visit the area and all attempts were made to conceal what was happening in that part of the world. Killing, raping, burning, and looting became widespread “ he said. 

According to A.N.D Haskar, an Indian foreign service officer who was the Political Counsellor at the Permanent Mission in New York, not only did India raise the issue of the crisis in Bangladesh at the UN but also hosted Bangladeshi representatives in New York to further their cause through informal diplomatic meetings. Some of these representatives went on to become important figures in independent Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi toured several capitals around the world to garner support for Bangladesh. India’s diplomatic efforts yielded positive results as the United Kingdom, East and West Germany, France, Russia, and Poland expressed sympathy and support to the cause of Bangladesh. India was also successful in getting both the United Kingdom and France to break with the United States, and block pro-Pakistan directives in the United Nations Security Council in late 1971. 

During the Bangladesh liberation struggle in 1971, China supported Pakistan and remained a mute spectator of torture and genocide being perpetrated by the Pakistan Army during Bangladesh’s nine-month Liberation War. After the liberation of Bangladesh, China even vetoed the entry of the newly formed country into the United Nations.

This week, 50 years after India publicly called for the release of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from Pakistani custody, his daughter, Sheikh Hasina, will address the UN General Assembly as a proud democratically elected leader of a large, independent and rapidly rising country with a high economic growth trajectory. – India News Stream