Changing foreign policy to be main challenge for govt

Al’s allies were only India, China and Russia
Suggestions for building new relationships

Rabiul Haque: The interim government that came through the student movement is talking about protecting foreign relations based on the interests of the country. Four days after taking charge, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md. Touhid Hossain talked with the foreign diplomats in Dhaka. Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus also spoke yesterday.
When looking for an answer to this question, analysts inside and outside the government say that many events are happening quickly. New situations are emerging inside the country as well, which may become a matter of trouble for the country in future in terms of foreign relations. On the other hand, the forces outside the country are not sitting still. Influential countries like the United States and India are talking among themselves about Bangladesh. In such a situation, the head of government may want to send certain messages to the international arena through foreign envoys.
Cases are being filed against former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who has taken refuge in India. Bringing him to justice and the UN investigation into the excessive use of force by the security agencies in the student-crowd movement could become major issues in foreign relations going forward, analysts believe.
Diplomats of Bangladesh working abroad say that diplomats mainly present the internal policies and situations of the country. Therefore, it is important for the government to maintain stability in the country by handling the pressure from various political parties and various centers of power. Doing so may make it easier to deal with other aspects of bilateral and multilateral relations, including foreign trade.
It is also a matter of how long development partners would like to see an unelected government in power, as a small section of the government thinks.
Senior research fellow of North South University and former ambassador Mohammad Sufiur Rahman said, “The time to prove the legitimacy of this government has not yet come.” And in the institutional constitutional system, the government behaves autocratically even after coming to power through elections. There is such an example in this country.
This diplomat, who has served as ambassador to Switzerland, Australia and Myanmar, said, “The interim government may be seen in the international arena as a reflection of the people’s expectations as they took over the state through a student-crowd coup, even if it did not come through a vote.”
Diplomats of the country think that the foreign relations in the last 15 years centered on India, China and Russia have created a distance between Bangladesh and almost everyone in the international arena except these three countries. Those clauses of relationship have to be corrected in many cases. Somewhere a new trend has to be created. There are many challenges for the interim government in this regard.
They think that as a state, instead of seeing these challenges as obstacles, they should take them as new opportunities and take quick and correct decisions to exploit them.
Analysts say that the negative image of the country abroad in the last 10 years, the interim government can overcome without much investment. In addition to fixing aspects of good governance and human rights within the country, initiatives can be taken to start the democratic process slowly. In this, the country’s diplomats can get an opportunity to conduct value-based diplomatic activities abroad.
In this regard, besides giving proper instructions to the government, they emphasized on employing skilled and creative people.
As Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge in India, a diplomat said that if she is asked to return to complete the judicial process, the matter could be embarrassing for India. He thinks that this situation has arisen because India has practically kept all its eggs in the basket of Awami League without having relations with other political parties.
The United Nations is calling for an independent inquiry into the use of force by security agencies in student protests. On the other hand, the foreign adviser Tauhid Hossain says that the involvement of the government will be necessary in this case. In such a situation, the question of how much the UN can get the cooperation of the local security organizations is also in front of the important people of the world organization working in Dhaka.