New Delhi : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will attend the state funeral of Khaleda Zia, the former Prime Minister of Bangladesh and Chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on December 31. Zia’s death comes on the heels of her son and BNP’s de facto chief, Tarique Rahman, returning to poll-bound Bangladesh after 17 years in exile.
The act is seen as New Delhi’s outreach to Dhaka at a time when India’s relationship with its South Asian ally has plunged, ever since Sheikh Hasina was ousted in a student uprising last year.
Zia’s leadership – between 1991 and 1996, and 2001 and 2006 – was often seen as a counter to the Awami League’s closeness to Delhi.
Zia strengthened Dhaka’s ties with Beijing, much to New Delhi’s chagrin. Her second term also saw Bangladesh gravitating further toward China, which became the country’s main supplier of military equipment. Distanced by Muhammad Yunus’s government, India is wary of Bangladesh growing dangerously close to both Pakistan and China.
At a rally in Dhaka, he made it clear that Bangladesh would not align itself closely with either India or Pakistan. “Not Dilli, not Pindi (Rawalpindi), Bangladesh before everything,” he declared. He has also sharply criticised radical political forces such as the anti-India Jamaat-e-Islami, once an ally of the BNP, and highlighted its support for Pakistan during the 1971 war.
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