Bangladesh elections: BNP promises to end ‘border killings’ by BSF, seeks fair share of cross border rivers

A week before the election and referendum in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) launched its manifesto announcing that its foreign policy will be based on ‘Bangladesh Before All’ and said, that the party will establish friendly relation with all but will not accept any country as its “master”.

The manifesto declared that if elected to power, BNP will prioritise to end “border killings” by the Border Security Force (BSF) of India and take steps to claim a “fair share” of common rivers with India like Teesta and Padma. The manifesto also called for building “strategic partnership” between Bangladesh and the Gulf countries and announced that the BNP “will not tolerate” any terrorist activity on Bangladesh’s soil.

“We are committed to building relations of equality, cooperation and friendship with our neighbours. The foundation of that relationship will be mutual respect and understanding whdich will ensure our collective progress. Our initiatives and efforts in this regard will aways continue,” said the manifesto highlighting that BNP will ensure “fair share” of water from the Padma, Teesta and “all transboundary rivers of Bangladesh”.

Reflecting a long-standing issue in Bangladesh’s relation with India, the manifesto said “strong measures” will be taken to deal with “border killings and push-in”.

“Smuggling, trafficking and drug trafficking at the border will be strictly suppressed,” the BNP’s manifesto said. The BNP, whose founder Ziaur Rahman was the first regional leader to talk about South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), has been talking about reviving the SAARC and reiterated that if elected to power, the BNP will make SAARC effective.

“BNP historically had deep relations with Middle Eastern (West Asian) countries and the Muslim World. Sincere efforts will continue to deepen and strengthen relations with the Middle East (West Asia) in international politics,” the manifesto said.

“Bangladesh wants to build a strategic partnership with member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the goal of which will be to achieve economic integration by combining the surplus capital of Gulf countries with Bangladesh’s productivity and human resources,” the manifesto pledged.

The document also sought a “rapid resolution” of the Rohingya crisis. The BNP said that the Rohingya crisis was not resolved because of the “failure of the foreign policy of a government without people’s mandate for eight long years,” and added that their party dealt with the issue on two occasions in 1978 and in 1992.

The manifesto announced that the party will have “zero tolerance” for terrorist activities and “will not provide shelter or support to any terrorist.”

“A national consensus will be built against militancy and extremism and terrorism,” the manifesto stated. It further stated that Bangladesh will constitute a National Security Council that will work on protection of sovereignty and credible deterrence capability.

It also promised to enhance capacity of the diplomatic service with additional recruitments and activities of its missions located in different parts of the world.