Special Correspondent :
Bangladesh and India, are going to sign an umbrella agreement to increase defense cooperation during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India, which begun on Friday.
Many security experts, however, are very much skeptical about the proposed defense deal saying that Bangladesh would not reap benefit from it; rather it could even go against the interest of the country.
Experts said India is very much anxious over the ‘pearl string theory’ of China and for that reason New Delhi wants ‘total support’ from its old friend Bangladesh. The defense cooperation deal is nothing but getting full-fledged cooperation from the closest
neighbour Bangladesh.
“I do welcome the proposal. I also think that it is positive. But I don’t think, there is any reason for such a hurry,” former Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said.
On the other hand, eminent security expert Major General [retd] Muniruzzaman said: “I also welcome the deal. But I like to warn that, Bangladesh can become a scapegoat following the arms race between the two super powers [India and China].”
At present, China is stepping forward with its ‘pearl string theory’ to get control of the Indian Ocean region along with the Bay of Bengal. If the theory is implemented, the Chinese military and commercial facilities along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan, will be taken under a single command.
Apart from covering the entire Bay of Bengal, the sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Somalia. China wants to hook all the countries and other islands in this region [pearls] in one string.
Rejecting the Indian initiatives, another former diplomat Serajul Islam told the media yesterday: “Bangladesh does not need a defense pact with India, or for that matter with any other country, because it does not face any threat of external aggression from any of its neighbours.”
Expressing caution, he further said: “With China, a sworn enemy of India, Bangladesh has been in defense-related cooperation for decades. If Bangladesh signs such a defense pact [with India], it would be viewed by Beijing as a deal directed against it.”
Bangladesh and India, are going to sign an umbrella agreement to increase defense cooperation during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s four-day visit to India, which begun on Friday.
Many security experts, however, are very much skeptical about the proposed defense deal saying that Bangladesh would not reap benefit from it; rather it could even go against the interest of the country.
Experts said India is very much anxious over the ‘pearl string theory’ of China and for that reason New Delhi wants ‘total support’ from its old friend Bangladesh. The defense cooperation deal is nothing but getting full-fledged cooperation from the closest
neighbour Bangladesh.
“I do welcome the proposal. I also think that it is positive. But I don’t think, there is any reason for such a hurry,” former Foreign Secretary Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury said.
On the other hand, eminent security expert Major General [retd] Muniruzzaman said: “I also welcome the deal. But I like to warn that, Bangladesh can become a scapegoat following the arms race between the two super powers [India and China].”
At present, China is stepping forward with its ‘pearl string theory’ to get control of the Indian Ocean region along with the Bay of Bengal. If the theory is implemented, the Chinese military and commercial facilities along its sea lines of communication, which extend from the Chinese mainland to Port Sudan, will be taken under a single command.
Apart from covering the entire Bay of Bengal, the sea lines run through several major maritime choke points such as the Strait of Mandeb, the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Lombok Strait as well as other strategic maritime centers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Somalia. China wants to hook all the countries and other islands in this region [pearls] in one string.
Rejecting the Indian initiatives, another former diplomat Serajul Islam told the media yesterday: “Bangladesh does not need a defense pact with India, or for that matter with any other country, because it does not face any threat of external aggression from any of its neighbours.”
Expressing caution, he further said: “With China, a sworn enemy of India, Bangladesh has been in defense-related cooperation for decades. If Bangladesh signs such a defense pact [with India], it would be viewed by Beijing as a deal directed against it.”
