A year before Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee the country, Indian officials asked their US counterparts to stop pressuring the former Bangladesh Prime Minister, The Washington Post reported, while citing Indian and US officials.
The 76-year-old Hasina was publicly criticised by US diplomats for jailing thousands of her rivals and critics ahead of the national elections in January 2024.
The US administration has sanctioned a Bangladeshi police unit, which, under the Awami League's leader, was accused of carrying out extrajudicial kidnapping and killings and also threatened to impose visa limitations on Bangladeshis who undermined democracy or committed any human rights violations.
Moderate Pro-Democracy Rhetoric: India To US
During a series of high-level meetings, Indian officials urged the United States to moderate its pro-democracy rhetoric regarding Bangladesh. They argued that if the opposition were to gain power through open elections, it could lead to Bangladesh becoming a hub for Islamist groups, thereby threatening India's national security.
Speaking with The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, an Indian official stated, “You approach it at the level of democracy, but for us, the issues are much, much more serious and existential."
He added, “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.’”
This led the Biden administration to soften its criticism and shelve threats of further sanctions against Hasina's regime, disappointing several Bangladeshis. However, as per the report, the US officials stated that it was a calculated move that had to do with Indian lobbying.
Was Bangladesh Situation Mishandled?
Following the defiance of army-imposed curfew orders by protesters who marched on Prime Minister Hasina's official residence, forcing her to flee to India, policymakers in New Delhi and Washington are now compelled to reassess whether they mishandled the situation in Bangladesh.
“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.
Ahead of the January elections, differences in opinions surfaced in the Biden administration on how to handle Bangladesh. Some in the US State Department, including then-Ambassador Peter Haas and others, called for a tougher approach against the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, others argued that further alienating the Awami League leader would not be much for the US.
Some US officials also considered the aftermath of antagonising India, which urged the Biden administration to moderate its pressure on Sheikh Hasina, including during the meeting between External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in November last year in New Delhi, according to the report.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also played a vital role in presenting the Indian case during a visit to the US that autumn.
“The US approach to Bangladesh was always one that tried to both be consistent with our values — and we spoke about those publicly on many occasions — but also pragmatic about the reality that the situation in Bangladesh was very complicated and that there were a number of interests that we had there, and that other countries had there,” a US official stated.
“We needed to try to find a constructive way to engage with that administration, as we do in all places. So our policy was much more about trying to strike a balance between both of those things.”
