Bangladesh’s Sovereignty Shield: Joint Defence Alliance with China in the East and Mecca in the West

Mobayedur Rahman

There has been a heated discussion in Bangladesh and India about the Mecca Pact. I have not seen such a wide and extensive discussion as there is in Bangladesh recently. I would call this discussion positive. Because, most of the discussions have commented that Bangladesh should join this pact. Although in small numbers, several columnists and talk show discussants have opposed joining this pact. I also welcome the opposition. Because, before deciding whether to join such a defense pact or not, there should be an open discussion starting from the parliament and among the people, that is the beauty of democratic politics. Until last Saturday, Bangladesh was non-committal on this issue. But after reading the statement of State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir while writing this column after Sunday evening, it seemed that the countries that are part of the pact have quietly invited Bangladesh to join this pact. Bangladesh is also positive on this issue. However, for the sake of broader diplomacy, it is not disclosing that at the moment.
What State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir said after his meeting with Chinese Ambassador Yao Wen on Sunday said the unsaid.It would not be out of place to say here that due to the huge workload of Foreign Minister Dr. Khalilur Rahman, including his post as the President of the United Nations, Humayun Kabir has temporarily taken over the Foreign Ministry. Although Shama Obaid is the State Minister in that ministry, she does not have bilateral and multilateral issues among the issues given to her.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir said that Saudi Arabia and Turkey are in a positive position regarding Bangladesh’s inclusion in the Mecca Defense Alliance. Stating that Bangladesh’s relations with China are currently at the highest strategic level, the State Minister for Foreign Affairs said that as part of this, diplomatic and defense dialogues between the two countries are going to start. However, the date of the dialogue has not been finalized yet.

Regarding Bangladesh’s inclusion in the Mecca Defense Alliance, he said that Saudi Arabia and Turkey have shown a positive attitude in this regard. Bangladesh also does not see any risk in this matter. Regarding relations with China, the State Minister said that Bangladesh’s relations with China have now been elevated to the highest level of strategic relations. In the continuation of this relationship, diplomatic and defense dialogue will be started between the two countries. However, a final decision has not been made yet on when this dialogue will be held.

We believe that the government will take a decision on this issue after considering the whole process and the past. Incidentally, I would like to highlight some past experiences. Because, at the time I will talk about, the youth of today, let alone the adults, were not born then. And even if they were born, they did not attain the maturity to understand these issues.

After the partition of India and its birth as an independent state, Pakistan completely joined the US camp. On the other hand, India, despite flying the flag of non-alignment, went to the camp of the then superpower Soviet Union. Pakistan entered into a direct military agreement with America. It was signed in 1954. At that time, the Governor General of Pakistan was Ghulam Mohammad and the Prime Minister was Mohammad Ali of Bogra. In the same year, i.e. 1954, Pakistan also entered into the SEATO agreement. SEATO was also a defense agreement. The members of this agreement were: USA, UK, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. The members of the Baghdad Agreement were: USA, UK, Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan. The name of the Baghdad Agreement was later changed to CENTO. After the name change, the number of members was reduced to 4. These 4 members were: USA, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan. In addition to these military agreements, Pakistan also joined an economic alliance. Its name was: RCD. That is, Regional Cooperation for Development. The members of RCD were: Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey.

॥ two ॥

I am digging up these old threads for a specific reason. In the past, the consequences of being included in these agreements have not been pleasant for Pakistan. This does not mean that if Bangladesh joins the Mecca Agreement, the consequences will not be pleasant for Bangladesh either. Rather, the opposite is more likely to happen, that is, the benefits will outweigh the costs. I will come to this topic a little later. Before that, a few words about the unpleasant experiences of the past.

Pakistan has been at odds with India since its birth. That is why the West still writes that Pakistan and India are eternal enemies. Pakistan was born as an independent state on August 14, 1947. At that time, Pakistan had little military power. Almost 90 percent of the military force that the British had left in India fell to India. Taking advantage of Pakistan’s weakness, India went to war against Pakistan on October 22, 1947, with the aim of capturing Kashmir. A ceasefire was reached on January 1, 1949, with the mediation of the United Nations. The condition of the ceasefire was that a plebiscite would be held in Kashmir. The plebiscite would determine whether the majority of Kashmiris want to join India? Or Pakistan? Or remain independent? 78 years have passed. India is showing its thumbs up to the UN’s plebiscite decision.

The second war between Pakistan and India took place in September 1965. This war began on September 6 and ended on September 23. This was also over Kashmir. The third war between Pakistan and India took place in 1971. This was over Bangladesh. Pakistan had joined the three military agreements mentioned above in the hope that India, a big country, a great power, would stand by Pakistan in the face of Indian aggression. At that time, Iran and Turkey were staunchly pro-American. Today, seeing the Iran-US war, many would not even think that the ruler of Iran at that time was Emperor Reza Shah Pahlavi, who was called an American puppet.

Another reason for Pakistan joining these agreements, especially the defense pact with America, was that Pakistan would become militarily stronger if it received America’s most advanced weapons. When the Indo-Pak war broke out, when Pakistan sought America’s help, America said that all those defense agreements were signed to confront communism. At that time, the world was bipolar. On one side was America, on the other side was the Soviet Union. China was with America. However, China was a poor country at that time. However, during the Indo-Pak war, we saw that Pakistan was fighting India with its very old F-86 Sabre jets. And India was fighting with the Soviet Union’s most advanced fighter aircraft, the MiG-21. At that time, Western security analysts used to taunt that Pakistan was chasing cars with its baby taxi.

॥ three ॥

This was the result of Pakistan’s military alliance with America. The late military president of Pakistan, Ziaul Haq, used to call US military aid ‘peanuts’ or Chinese nuts. But it is not at all right to say that the same result will come from forming an alliance with China or joining the Mecca Pact. On the contrary, Pakistan has benefited a lot from being with China. To put it bluntly, it has to be said that the military power of Pakistan in 1971 is much greater than the military power of Pakistan today. This was proven in the Pak-India war that took place a few months ago. There, Pakistan shot down India’s most advanced French fighter jet Rafale with the Chinese J-10C. Pakistan’s J-17 Thunder, built with the help of Chinese technology, shot down a Russian-made MiG-29 aircraft.

Pakistan is one of the 9 nuclear powers in the world today. The other 8 countries are: USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Israel and North Korea. Today, through this column, I am calling on all the readers of Inqilab to read a very important book. The name of the book is ‘The Man from Pakistan’. Authors are Douglas Franz and Catherine Collins. Translated by Sheikh Abdul Hakim. In this 280-page book, the reader will read in a nutshell, how America stood as a huge obstacle to Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear power step by step. And how, overcoming all obstacles, Pakistan’s national hero scientist Abdul Qadir Khan gifted Pakistan the atomic bomb.

It is an open secret today that China secretly supplied parts of nuclear technology to Pakistan. And Pakistan also supplied parts of nuclear technology to North Korea. Pakistan also supplied parts of this technology to Iran. Libya’s Mr. Gaddafi said that he would pay whatever the cost. Still, he wanted nuclear technology from Pakistan. But his hopes were not fulfilled. Before that, NATO arms dealers brutally killed him in a tunnel.

If Bangladesh joins the Mecca Agreement, the main benefit for it will be the huge share of Saudi Arabia’s money. Along with the security of fuel, i.e. oil. In addition, the number of Bangladeshi workers sent to Saudi Arabia will increase. Bangladesh will get Turkey’s latest technology. It can be mentioned that among the 32 NATO countries, England, Germany and France are technologically second only to America. But today, Turkey stands in the ranks of England, Germany and France in terms of technology. Turkish drones are world famous. Russia is purchasing Turkish drones in the Ukraine war. Drones will be built with the technical assistance of Turkey at the airport and air base that will be built in Bogra in Bangladesh.

Apart from these three allies of Bangladesh, there is China. China is providing 20 Rafale J-10C fighter jets to the Air Force, a branch of the Indian military that did not allow Bangladesh to build a military, but rather wanted to eliminate the Bangladesh Army in the BDR massacre on February 25 and 26, 2009. In addition, Bangladesh will receive surface-to-air missiles, shoulder-carried missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles for the Navy from China.

It may be mentioned here that the Bangladesh Navy has already acquired two submarines from China. According to State Minister for Foreign Affairs Humayun Kabir, strategic discussions on defense with China will begin very soon.

I refrained from commenting on the internal politics of Bangladesh. But regarding foreign and defense policy, I can say that so far Bangladesh is moving in the right direction. If Bangladesh is a strategic partner of China in the east and a member of the Mecca Defense Treaty in the west, then India will think twice before looking at Bangladesh with bloodshot eyes. And if it dares to do so even after that, then it will create a huge stir in North-East India. Cuba, despite being a small country, has defended its sovereignty against America with the help of the Soviet Union. Bangladesh will also be able to defend its sovereignty with the help of China and the Mecca Defense Treaty.

Email:journalist15@gmail.com