A Betrayal of Blood: Bangladesh’s Dangerous Amnesia

In the turbulent theatre of South Asian geopolitics, shifting alliances and pragmatic diplomacy are not uncommon. But every so often, a shift occurs that transcends the realm of politics and enters the territory of moral treachery.

The recent remarks made by Major General (Retd) A.L.M. Fazlur Rahman, chair of Bangladesh’s National Independent Commission of Inquiry, represent such a shift.

His provocative suggestion that Bangladesh should occupy India’s seven northeastern states if India attacks Pakistan has not only inflamed tensions but revealed a deeply troubling trend: Bangladesh’s current interim leadership is turning its back on its history, its benefactors, and its founding principles.

This is not a mere rhetorical lapse by a rogue former general. It reflects a larger, deliberate strategic reorientation by the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government, installed after the ousting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024.

Rahman’s remarks were not only endorsed by members of the commission but followed a series of moves by Dhaka that signal a broad realignment away from India and toward powers historically antagonistic to Bangladesh’s very creation.

To truly grasp the gravity of this betrayal, we must revisit the events of 1971. In March of that year, the Pakistani military unleashed "Operation Searchlight" a ruthless campaign aimed at crushing the Bengali nationalist movement in what was then East Pakistan.

Under this operation, the army targeted students, intellectuals, and civilians with mass killings, arbitrary arrests, and widespread sexual violence, triggering one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 20th century.

In one of the bloodiest campaigns of the 20th century, the Pakistan Army is estimated to have killed between 300,000 to 3 million people. Rape was used as a weapon of war, with tens of thousands of Bengali women victimized.

The entire campaign was designed to silence the Bengali independence movement and preserve the unity of a state that had long marginalized its eastern half.

It was in this context that India, under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, opened its borders to nearly 10 million refugees, took on immense humanitarian and economic burdens, and ultimately intervened militarily to end the genocide.

The war lasted just 13 days but resulted in the complete surrender of Pakistani forces in Dhaka on December 16, 1971. It was a moment of moral clarity in international politics, where India chose to act not only out of strategic interest but to halt a human tragedy.

And yet today, Bangladesh’s new leadership seems determined to erase this history. The warming of diplomatic ties with Pakistan while India faces a chill in relations with Dhaka has stunned many.

From easing visa policies and hosting foreign secretary-level talks after a 15-year gap, to expecting the arrival of Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, the rapprochement is clear and deliberate.

Even more disturbing is the parallel embrace of China. In a recent meeting with Chinese officials, interim leader Muhammad Yunus argued that “Bangladesh, not India, is the gateway to South Asia” and proposed that Bangladesh serve as “an extension of the Chinese economy.”

Such statements are not harmless economic overtures. They are a challenge to India’s central role in the region and part of a broader effort to reframe the regional order, potentially as part of a China-Pakistan-Bangladesh axis.

This alignment is not only strategically risky but morally indefensible. Pakistan, whose military once referred to Bengalis as "lowly Hindus" and "traitors," is now being welcomed back into the diplomatic fold with open arms by the very state it tried to crush.

Meanwhile, India the state that helped midwife Bangladesh into existence is being pushed away, vilified, and targeted in conspiratorial rhetoric.

The creation of the National Independent Commission of Inquiry into the 2009 Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny is another tool in this troubling transformation. Though ostensibly formed to reinvestigate the mutiny, the commission has veered into murky territory by reviving unsubstantiated claims that Indian intelligence orchestrated the massacre.

Local media, especially outlets like Amar Desh Patrika, have begun peddling these narratives once again, claiming that RAW-trained assassins infiltrated Dhaka disguised as athletes and escaped on delayed flights, with hotel safehouses and destroyed CCTV evidence as part of the story.

Such claims were long debunked, yet they resurface now conveniently in a political climate where India-bashing serves the new administration’s interests.

This is no accident. It is a calculated move to shift blame away from internal failures and redirect public anger toward external scapegoats India in particular.

By doing so, the current government not only absolves key domestic actors but also stokes nationalist fervour that can justify future alliances, however morally incoherent.

India has every reason to reassess its approach to Bangladesh, but it must do so with clarity and resolve. While maintaining diplomatic composure, New Delhi should not ignore the warning signs.

A neighbour once seen as a friend is now entertaining hostile rhetoric, embracing revisionist histories, and flirting with adversaries. This is not just a betrayal of alliances it is a betrayal of memory, of the very foundations of Bangladeshi sovereignty.

It is also a betrayal of the countless families in Bangladesh who still carry the trauma of 1971. For them, the horrors of that year are not footnotes in history they are scars that shape identities. To see their government now shaking hands with Islamabad, while accusing Delhi of conspiracy, is nothing short of an insult.

The people of Bangladesh deserve better than this. They deserve a leadership that honours the past, not one that rewrites it for convenience. They deserve policies that secure their future, not gamble it on dubious partnerships.

As the geopolitical map of South Asia continues to shift, one truth remains unaltered: without India, there would be no Bangladesh. That truth deserves to be remembered not erased.

Kuala Lumpur.

03.05.2025

© All rights are reserved.