A Bangladeshi professor has said that both Pakistan and China should apologise for war crimes perpetrated during Bangladesh’s War for Independence in 1971.
His article:
Bangladesh’s history of deprivations, injustice, discrimination and torment that the nation had to go through at the hands of Pakistan is still glaringly inscribed in our minds. For this reason, fighting for independence was the only choice for Bangladesh. Under those crucial circumstances India proved its brotherly bonds with us by standing beside Bangladesh on diplomatic, military and humanitarian fronts. Over ten million refugees from Bangladesh took shelter on Indian soil. Most of the freedom fighters of Bangladesh were trained up in India who moved back into Bangladesh to fight for the country’s liberation. In this way the relationship between Bangladesh and India is written in golden letters.
Geopolitical analysts have frequently stated that China instigated the Rohingya influx into Bangladesh. China is always on Myanmar’s side which is why the international powers including the United Nations are not being able to persuade Myanmar to repatriate Rohingyas back into Myanmar.
Bangladesh should not fall in the pitfall of Chinese debt trap diplomacy. Chinese loans have endangered the economy of many countries including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Serbia, Montenegro and so on. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is being spearheaded by China. It’s part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) program. China’s affiliation with Karachi Stock Exchange has devastated the share market of Pakistan. It should be noted that Pakistan graduated from least developed countries (LDC) in 1969 but Bangladesh has crossed Pakistan’s economy in all terms.
Sri Lanka is currently witnessing a severe foreign exchange crisis, which has been increased manifold by its inability to meet the monetary obligations to China on several projects. The situation further deteriorated as Sri Lanka failed to meet the maturity dates of the International Sovereign Bonds (ISBx) debt, amounting to over $8 billion in projects. Sri Lanka had to hand over its Hambantota Port to the Chinese authorities after failing to pay back Chinese loans. It is to mention that Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a long-term plan to fund and build infrastructure linking China to the rest of the world but the project is dubbed as” debt-trap diplomacy” by the US for all developing and poorer nations.
The Asian Age published a number of articles and reports on the threats posed by Chinese debt trap diplomacy. The Asian Age hopes the authorities concerned will safeguard Bangladesh from economic disasters so that Bangladesh does not turn out to be another Sri Lanka.
Read the full article by Dr. Jesmin Chowdhury, Editor-in-Chief of The Asian Age, HERE.
