Isha Khan

The book was recently launched in Dhaka. The writer and the Editor Barrister MBI Munshi said the following:

Thank you for all attending today on the launching of my book 'The India Doctrine.' I would like to say a few words on the circumstances surrounding the writing of the book and some of the ideas contained therein. As the book was published as a limited edition many people are still not familiar with its contents but there have been some remarkable reviews in several English and Bengali newspapers that have helped to explain the complicated issues contained in its pages.

Some of the reviewers have gone further and also added some new and personal insights that were not available or known to me but which I think is a beginning in an exchange of ideas that the book was intended to generate and encourage. It would be unfortunate if the fear or reluctance to speak openly on India-Bangladesh relations continues to persist as a more critical and objective analysis is now required in order to protect the economic advances made by Bangladesh over the last two decades.

The idea of an India Doctrine occurred to me in a rudimentary form in a two part article that I wrote in 2001 under the title 'Akhand Hindustan' which was published exclusively on the internet. It was mainly a theoretical piece consisting of quotations from 'The Discovery of India' by Jawaharlal Nehru and several other renowned statesmen like Henry Kissinger and J.N. Dixit.

Few practical examples were included of India's hegemonic and domineering attitude to Bangladesh but I did refer to the propaganda campaign launched against the country concerning Islamic extremism that appeared in the Indian press and media especially after the 4-party alliance led by the BNP came to power. In 2003 the article was substantially revised to include policy initiatives by the BJP government in India that was seen to have negative implications for Bangladesh.

I investigated the ideological pretensions of the Hindu fundamentalist and militant organization the RSS and its influential leader Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar who forcefully promoted the view of an 'Akhand Bharat' which had originally been conceived of by Nehru but the expression never appeared explicitly in his works.

It was only in 2006 that I had the opportunity to transform the articles into a book which was originally to be called 'Akhand Bharat' but this was thought too limiting as India's policy towards its neighbours did not necessarily imply physical occupation which would be costly both in money and lives. Indian interference has instead included intellectual, political, economic and diplomatic control facilitated by their external intelligence agency RAW and only occasionally through the intervention of the Indian military as occurred in Sikkim.

My chapters in the book cover relations between India and East Pakistan/Bangladesh from 1947 to the present. It attempts a historical and geo-strategic analysis of relations between the two countries but also tries to offer a more wide ranging analysis involving the Indian external intelligence agency operations in South Asia. The central idea of the chapters when taken as a whole appears to be that the India Doctrine as implemented by successive administrations in India has a historical and intellectual underpinning that was originally expressed by Nehru in the following terms on the advent of partition,

"If India is split up into two or more parts and can no longer function as a political and economic unit, her progress will be seriously affected but much worse will be the inner psychological conflict between those who wish to reunite her and those who oppose this. Thus we arrive at the inevitable and ineluctable conclusion that, whether Pakistan comes or not, a number of important and basic functions of the state must be exercised on an all-India basis if India is to survive as a free state and progress."

Nehru's argument is far more elaborate than this short quotation suggests but it does contain the germ for what some Hindu fanatics have called an Akhand Bharat and which finds expression in an aggressive policy prescription prescribed by Nehru's daughter Indira Gandhi while Prime Minister and has been aptly called the Indira Doctrine. This doctrine can be divided into three parts but it is the last that is of relevance here,

"If a South Asian country genuinely needs external help to deal with a serious internal conflict situation, or with an intolerable threat to a government legitimately established, it should ask help from a number of neighboring countries including India. The exclusion of India from such a contingency will be considered to be an anti-Indian move on the part of the government concerned."

It is my contention in the book that internal conflicts or threats to the state in almost all cases in South Asia have been engineered by Indian intelligence of which I provide numerous examples not only from Bangladesh but also Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sikkim and Pakistan. The several other authors that graciously contributed to the book supplement my thesis in this respect. The Gujral Doctrine that was meant to supersede the Indira Doctrine actually only manages to make the former look diplomatically acceptable and is largely cosmetic in nature without any fundamental changes to the Indian outlook of South Asia as its backyard where its is at liberty to do as it wishes.

The two areas that I specifically concentrate on in the book are the events surrounding the 1971 independence war and the insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is my belief that independence was the only choice for Bangladesh and the sacrifices of those who fought in the war must never be forgotten and that we are duty bound to realize their dream of a prosperous and free Bangladesh.

However, the role played by India in the decade prior to the crack down on March 26, 1971 and its policy during the tenure of the war and also immediately after the surrender of Pakistani forces has not been properly researched and there is no original contribution to the understanding of these issues since independence 35 years ago.

This is because of an enforced censorship that describes any new finding or interpretation that is even slightly at variance with the accepted or orthodox view as a distortion of history which could result in legal penalties and even threats of physical violence from interested quarters trying to maintain the present fixed understanding of the country's struggle towards independence. Several generations of Bangladeshis have been born since 1971 and an open discussion on these issues of historical importance is now long overdue.

Only in this way will the nation be able to move forward no longer tied down by the shackles of history that still polarize and divide our political debates that has been characterized by violence, hartals, blockades and economic destruction which can only assist the Indian program for domination and control over Bangladesh. It is for this reason that foreign interference in the internal affairs of Bangladesh must be resisted to protect the independence and sovereignty of the nation.

In my chapters on the 1971 war I extensively refer to works by Indian authors such as Kalidas Baidya, Asoka Raina and Major General Uban who all come with backgrounds in Indian intelligence. It is clear from the books written by Kalidas Baidya in particular that RAW and many elements in the Indian government desired not to see an independent Bangladesh but instead promoted the formation of an entity that was wholly dependant on India especially for its security needs and inclined to adopt Indian foreign policy prescriptions in toto. It was for this reason that the Mujibnagar government based in Kolkata was forced to sign a seven point agreement that would have effectively left Bangladesh without a standing army and the only means of security would be a paramilitary force ( i.e. Rakkhi Bahini) trained and organized by Indian advisers. Only after the signing of this agreement did India actively intervene in the war.

The seven point agreement was only partially formalized by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi in the 25 year Friendship Treaty in 1972. In order to keep Bangladesh within its orbit of influence Indian intelligence had trained two groups during the 1971 war as an insurance policy.

One group was the Mukti Bahini and the other the Mujib Bahini and both were mutually hostile and antagonistic to each other. India had hoped that after independence this enmity would continue allowing it to act as 'honest broker' between the two groups and at the same time control events inside Bangladesh. It has been assumed that the creation of the Rakkhi Bahini was an Awami League initiative but it was in reality set up to act as the tool or instrument of Indian policy to suppress opposition and to eliminate leftist elements opposed to it. The Rakkhi Bahini personnel were primarily recruited from the Mujib Bahini who were perceived to be more subservient to Indian interests.

After independence and the change in government in 1975 India again intervened to create disturbances in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. My chapters detail numerous examples and reports of Indian intelligence engaging directly with insurgent groups and also cited are many Indian sources of this assistance and cooperation. In recent years Indian intelligence has sponsored several international conferences intended to propagate the view that tribes in the region are actually indigenous.

This propaganda has been so successful that it is hardly refuted in Bangladesh but there is a wealth of historical information collected and interpreted by internationally reputed writers who have shown that the earliest inhabitants were in fact Muslim traders from Arabia. Over the centuries the area was then successively ruled by the Bengal Sultanate and the Mughal Emperors.

There are historical records of an indigenous people in the CHT but they bear no resemblance to the present day tribes. Many of the indigenous peoples converted to Islam, became extinct due to obnoxious social practices or were simply killed off by the intruding tribes from Arakan and China who are now residing in the CHT region and who have in the past unjustifiably sought autonomy from Bangladesh.

India's goal in fomenting the insurgency had been to destabilize the CHT and ultimately to seek its secession from Bangladesh so that it may have access to the Chittagong port facility and mineral resources in the area. When the insurgency began to loose steam in the 1990's India pushed for an unequal peace accord that would eventually achieve the same results but by other means.

While these two episodes constitute the most obvious examples of Indian interference in Bangladesh there is also evidence that RAW has been involved in instigating a communalist secessionist movement that feeds off the propaganda on alleged Hindu oppression in Bangladesh. The Bangabhumi Movement started its operations on August 15, 1977 under the name of 'Nikhil Banga Nagarik Sangha' (NBNS - All Bengal Citizen's Organization) with Dr. Kalidas Baidya as its General Secretary.

The NBNS also set up its own armed wing called the 'Banga Sena' with Dr. Kalidas Baidya as its commander. Over the years the Bangabhumi Movement has tried different methods of infiltration into Bangladesh under various guises with front organizations providing publicity and coordination which have included the Bangladesh Refugee Welfare Organization, the Mohajir Sangha and the Hindu-Buddha-Christian Oikya Parishad.

The latest manifestation of the Bangabhumi Movement has appeared in the form of the Human Rights Congress on Bangladeshi Minorities (HRCBM) which is an exclusively Hindu organization that intends to create communal violence in various parts of Bangladesh to force Hindus to relocate in border districts of the country and then oblige India to annex these districts into the larger Indian Union ( i.e. the program for an Akhand Bharat). In a report prepared by Alochona eForce the tactics and strategies of the group are intricately and comprehensively set out and include –

- portraying Bangladesh internationally as a Talibanised country

- encouraging the boycott of Bangladesh made products

- expounding that Islam is the cause of evils

- seeking support from extremist Hindus worldwide

- damaging relations between Bangladesh and the UN and other countries

- inciting India to be actively hostile against Bangladesh

- creating social unrest within Bangladesh

If the HRCBM organization had been able to continue its activities unimpeded a serious calamity would have certainly befallen Bangladesh but we cannot be complacent as conspiracies against the sovereignty and integrity of the nation continue.

Before I close this speech I should mention briefly the other writers that helped in making this publication possible and who have all generously contributed chapters to the book. Brig. Gen. Sakhawat Hossain is the foremost strategic and military analyst in Bangladesh today. He has kindly written two chapters expertly pointing out the intricate alliances being forged in the region and the importance of the Indian Ocean in the strategic thinking of India, China, the USA and Pakistan.

His comments on the North-East insurgency and the recent uprising in Nepal are highly insightful and will inform readers for many years to come. Khodeza Begum a teacher by profession has contributed a short chapter that centers on several clandestine meetings held in Dhaka involving a plan to reunite the subcontinent. She provides an extensive discussion on the policies being pursued by the Indian government that according to her is detrimental to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bangladesh. She analyses the concept of a United Bengal that has featured in some of the Indian political literature in recent years. She has also summarized the tactics and strategies adopted by the Indian government and its intelligence agency to undermine the unity of Bangladesh and to inculcate the population of the country with a perspective adverse to the nations integrity.

Following the chapters by the Bangladeshi authors there is a section written by Nepali writers Madan Prasad Khanal, Nishchal Basnyat, Sanjay Upadhya and Dr. Shrastra Dutta Pant whose contributions to the book are highly articulate, elegant and almost near impeccable in terms of research, language and style. Each author discusses differing aspects of Indian interference and intervention in Nepali internal affairs especially relating to the monarchy and the Maoist insurgency and provides possible solutions to these problems from a nationalist perspective.

The final chapter of the book is written by two Sri Lankan specialists Dr Rohan Gunaratna and Arbinda Acharya. Both writers collaborated to produce a single chapter on the Sri Lankan attitude to Indian interference or as the authors themselves put it, "India's involvement in Sri Lankan ethnic imbroglio has been one of the most controversial, ironic as well as tragic aspects of New Delhi's foreign policy." While concentrating on the Sri Lankan situation the writers also manage to draw in examples from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan to back up their case on Indian aspirations in South Asia. Of significance is the Indian involvement in the protracted and apparently insoluble conflict with the Tamils. The chapter also involves a geostrategic appraisal of Sri Lanka and its growing relationship with China and Pakistan.

I would also like to thank the Bangladesh Research Forum for giving me this opportunity to write this book and to Mr. Zaman for guidance, support and various materials and documents that were unavailable to me otherwise. Finally, I extend my appreciation and thanks to Maj. Gen. Fazlur Rahman for agreeing to be the Chief Guest on this occasion and to all the discussants who have shown a rare courage in speaking on this subject today.

Isha Khan
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