Editorial
Obama's India visit
We hope the special relationship will benefit the whole region
President Obama's Indian trip is just as full of economic significance as it is pregnant with political and strategic developments. We welcome the growing friendship between India and the US but at the same time we must remember that everything the US is doing globally and in our region cannot be welcomed by any freedom loving nation or individual in the world.
We are fully aware that US policy in Afghanistan is flawed. It has foolishly and unnecessarily turned this area in a conflict zone, whose destabilising effects are apparent in other parts of the region. India has its own legitimate interest in that war-torn area. But now with this enhanced bilateral relationship with the US, she might become a tool of US policy in Afghanistan.
Obviously the special relationship between India and the US will have its repercussion on China. We have observed with satisfaction the growing economic ties between the two Asian giants, notwithstanding the existing military problem between them. We don't, in any way, want that the relationship should suffer. It is quite clear that the US would want to see India more as a rival to China, and not as complementary forces which we do in this region. Therefore we would urge India not to be overly influenced by US strategic vision of this relationship.
The American position on India's UNSC ambition resonates with the policy of Bangladesh. But while we agree that Delhi does deserve a permanent seat at the UNSC, we must also point out that India happens to have a number of bilateral issues with its neighbours which it must now address in a spirit expected of a global power. There is a clear need for India, in the aftermath of the Obama visit, to forge a visionary approach to its relations with countries in its neighbourhood and indeed let the engine of growth that powers it be felt as well in the economic progress of these countries. Delhi's approach to the disturbances in Kashmir has been more a demonstration of the power of the state than a concerted search for a political solution. The positive fall-out of the Obama trip should have a sobering effect on how the Indian government handles the security situation in Kashmir.
President Obama's visit has been a high point for the Indian leadership and is a clear statement that India has come of age. If earlier President Bush took ties with India a good many miles ahead through reaching a nuclear deal with it, today President Obama has placed them on a bigger diplomatic landscape. The trip is a huge boost for India. Let it all lead to a fresh new opening for South Asia as a whole.
Bangladesh wants to see India emerge as powerhouse of economic growth which will help to pull the whole of South Asian region out of its poverty trap. In that perspective, we would like to see the rising India-US relationship as an impetus to that economic growth process from which the region stands to gain enormously.
Mr. Obama should be going back home a happy man. His deals with India will clearly have a positive effect on a fraught American economy. It is surely a sign of how times have changed.
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