Khaleda Indulged In India-Baiting On Us Trip

Former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia sought tried to whip up anti-India feelings against India and the ruling Awami League party during her recent tour of the US, but apparently met with little success.

According to reports from the US, Zia used her 12-day visit, during which she attended the 11th Conference of the Federation of Bangladesh Associations in North America (FOBANA), to indulge in her favourite pastime of India baiting.

Wherever the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief went and whoever she met with in America, she criticised the Awami League government and hit out at India.

Addressing a conference of Rotarians in Los Angeles, Zia said the security concerns of South Asian countries were centred on India. India has emerged as a big power, but its aspirations are yet to be recognised in the world, she was quoted as saying.

 

She said the Bangladesh government had in recent times signed several agreements with India, including the Ganges water sharing treaty, which created confusion in the peoples mind. She also mentioned the Kashmir dispute which she said had triggered an arms race in the subcontinent.

Zia also accused the 14-month-old Sheikh Hasina government of bringing the Bangladesh economy to a state of collapse and failing to check lawlessness, human rights violations and political violence.

According to reports, Zia was not happy with the result of her US visit. The BNP chief and senior leaders of her party, accompanying her, failed to meet US administration officials. All attempts of Zia and other BNP leaders to meet US lawmakers also failed.

Another report from Washington said that before her departure, Zia had given the responsibility of her partys anti-government campaign to three party leaders who stayed back in the US

However, she managed to meet Mr Bill Richardson, the permanent US representative to the United Nations. The BNP chief was reportedly advised to work for the development of her country.

An article in the Daily Star from Boston said Zia returned home with a bitter-sweet memory of the visit. It said Zia was saddened at leaving behind in America a community of Bangladeshi immigrants just as divided as her partys US unit. A simmering intra-party squabble within the BNPs US branch surfaced as the party chairperson set her foot in New York.