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A lunch with Pinak Chakravarty

Harun ur Rashid
To me, it appears that the positive attitude of the Bangladesh government has not gone unnoticed in New Delhi, and the Congress-led government wants to seize this opportunity.
A narrative of a diplomat's experiences has always been revealing and entertaining. A life of a diplomat is always exciting as ever, and unexpected events often occur during his/her tenure. Diplomats are privy to many interactions with the government which others are not aware of.
The Indian high commissioner has a high profile across media and community in Bangladesh. It is not an unmixed blessing as it has advantages as well as disadvantages. High Commissioner Pinak has realised it during his tenure of almost three years in the country.
The Indian high commissioner's lively discussions at a farewell lunch on December 7th were not only fascinating but also provided deep insight into the Bangladesh and India relationship.
Delhi. In that sense, he is a member of the Bengali diaspora community.
At the lunch, it was interesting to listen to the Indian high commissioner's personal experiences in Bangladesh with revealing anecdotes.
His comments can be divided into two segments: one relating to his experience with the caretaker government (CTG) led by Fakhruddin Ahmed and the other on New Delhi's earnest desire to remove mistrust and lack of confidence between the two governments.
His anecdotes with the CTG are out of the ordinary and some deserve mention:
• He came to Bangladesh just 3 days before January 11th in 2007, when the "military backed caretaker government," a terminology frequently used by some media, took over. This was an unexpected event for him and provided him an opportunity to know about the web of forces released after January 11,2007.
• As he could not present his credentials, he took the initiative to get in touch with the chief advisers office and sought an appointment. He was contacted by the chief adviser's office about the date and time of his appointment while he was playing golf in the late afternoon. At a meeting, the high commissioner mentioned to Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed that India wished to pursue a policy of engagement with the CTG.
• Once, when High Commissioner Pinak was at the golf course, he happened to meet the then Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed. General Moeen wanted to know from him about India's proposed trination (Myanmar-Bangladesh-India) gas pipeline. The high commissioner informed the general that there was no gas available in Myanmar because the country had
committed the gas to China instead of India.
•'On another occasion, the army chief wanted to know from him whether the Kolkata-Dhaka train service could start. The high commissioner informed the general that negotiation for the service was already completed but the train service could not operate, reasons best known to Bangladesh. When the caretaker government agreed to commence the train link between the two cities, the date needed to be fixed and "Pahela Baisakh" (April 14th, 2007) -- the New Bengali Year --was agreed upon, symbolising a new era.
• He disclosed that the CTG once sought a clearance over Indian airspace for an aircraft from Dhaka. The Indian government gave the permission but the CTG never used it.
On Indo-Bangladesh relations, one could get the impression from High Commissioner Pinak that, with the Sheikh Hasina government in power, the atmosphere in New Delhi had dramatically changed and that there were many reasons for that.
But the one issue that had a significant impact on India is the commitment of the current Bangladesh government to get rid of extremists and militants.
India attaches highest importance to the threat to security and wants a "peaceful periphery" for socioeconomic progress. He is convinced that the Indian government will walk "miles" to restore confidence and trust with the Bangladesh government in the areas of security, trade, water sharing, energy and roads and railways.
He has Indicated that when Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits New Delhi in the second week of January, she will see for herself the changed atmosphere in New Delhi and a new horizon will be ushered in on Indo-Bangladesh relations.
A few other facts also came out .
• With regard to Indian investment in Bangladesh, according to him, the
rejection of Tata's proposal has been a huge setback for Bangladesh as it conveyed a negative impression to Indian investors, but there will be more opportunities in future.
• On the question of Bangladesh's cable TV not being operational in India, he explained that Bangladesh's foreign exchange regulations posed a problem in the payment to the cable operators in India. Cable TV from other countries such as Russia and Pakistan are operational in India and there is no reason why India should put restrictions on Bangladesh cable TV operators.
• On the implementation of the 1996 Ganges Water Treaty, the high commissioner said that Bangladesh was getting more than its share of the water under the Treaty, to which one eminent Bangladeshi responded that the arrangement should be permanent.
• On visa matters, he said that the process had been made much easier at present because one could fix an appointment with the Indian High Commission for visa through electronic token through the website: www.ivacbd.com
To me, it appears that the positive attitude of the Bangladesh government has not gone unnoticed in New Delhi, and the Congress-led government wants to seize this opportunity.
Bangladesh's gains do not have to come at India's expense, or vice versa. India and Bangladesh are not locked in some Manichean, existential conflict. "Win-win" solutions are possible on all the issues if sincere efforts for mutual accommodation exist.
It is easy and pointless to spend endless amount of time In a dialogue of the deaf discussing how one country has never done the right thing by the other. The time has come to look forward to move on a mature partnership on the economic, social and political levels.
Banister Harun ur Rashid is a Former Bangladesh
Ambassador Io the UN. Geneva