India pressed US to go easy on Hasina before her ouster, officials say
After Indian lobbying, Washington toned down its criticism of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, reports The Washington Post
India had asked the United States to stop pressuring former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who resigned and fled to the neighbouring country in the face of a mass uprising on 5 August, the Washington Post reports citing US and Indian officials.
Indian officials began to lobby their US counterparts to this end a year ago, the report states.
The US, in recent years, took increasingly stern positions against the Hasina government.
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The administration of President Joe Biden publicly criticised 76-year-old Hasina for jailing thousands of her rivals and critics ahead of an election scheduled for last January. Prior to that, the US administration had sanctioned the Rapid Action Battalion, an elite force of the Bangladeshi police under Hasina's command accused of carrying out extrajudicial abductions and killings.
Several more sanctions, including visa restrictions, were imposed on government officials, and law enforcement agencies as well for undermining democracy or committing human rights abuses.
However, in the midst of this, Indian officials demanded that the US tone down its pro-democracy stance on Bangladesh in a series of meetings, according to the Washington Post report.
The Post writes that Indian officials argued that if the "opposition were allowed to gain power in an open election, Bangladesh would become a breeding ground for Islamist groups posing a threat to India's national security."
"You approach it at the level of democracy, but for us, the issues are much, much more serious and existential," an Indian government adviser told the Post on condition of anonymity.
"There were a lot of conversations with the Americans where we said, 'This is a core concern for us, and you can't take us as a strategic partner unless we have some kind of strategic consensus,'" the official added.
According to the Post, the Indian lobby worked.
"Ultimately, the Biden administration substantially softened its criticism and shelved threats of further sanctions against Hasina's government, disappointing many in Bangladesh," it wrote.
US officials, however, claim that it was a calculated decision that had little to do with Indian pressure.
India's pro-Awami League diplomacy extended outside of the US.
India had simultaneously warned other Western governments about the dangers of the opposition BNP returning to power.
"It was intense," recalled an official from a Western country allied with the United States. "They started briefing Western governments that Bangladesh could become the next Afghanistan, that the BNP could lead to instability, violence and terror."
According to Indian officials, they have reason to feel burned by the BNP as during its rule in the mid-2000s, militants smuggled weapons to attack northeast India and trained in camps inside Bangladesh with the help of Pakistani intelligence.
Indian and US officials said this experience with BNP rule explained why India had been so adamant on keeping Hasina in power for 15 years.
India's stance on the issue has only intensified following the fall of Sheikh Hasina and the AL-led government.
Officials from the neighbouring country have warned that the Jamaat-e-Islami could gain power. Indian media have also heavily reported on a spike in alleged attacks on Bangladesh's Hindu minority population in the aftermath of AL's fall.
Meanwhile, according to the Post report, as India grapples with the shock of suddenly losing one of its closest allies, Indian foreign policy circles and media have been awash with speculation that Washington orchestrated the removal of Hasina, who has long had a chilly relationship with the United States. US officials have staunchly denied the claim.
Others in New Delhi say India was to blame for propping up an autocrat for so long. A former senior Indian national security official said it made sense, in theory, to support Hasina, but New Delhi did not grasp the situation on the ground.
After Hasina's ouster, policymakers in both New Delhi and Washington are forced to confront whether they mishandled Bangladesh now.
"There is always a balancing act in Bangladesh, as there is in many places where the situation on the ground is complicated and you want to work with the partners you have in a way that is not inconsistent with what the American people expect," said a US official, who like several others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's diplomatic sensitivity.
Other US officials felt there was little to be gained from further alienating Hasina and risking the safety of US diplomats, including Haas, who had received threats from Hasina's followers.
India, however, has also been changing its approach towards Bangladesh in recent days.
Soon after the interim government, led by Nobel laureate Mohammad Yunus, took charge, Indian PM Narendra Modi sent his "best wishes" to Yunus, even though he criticised India for backing Hasina.
