By P.K.Balachandran/Daily News
Colombo, February 18: The outcome of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with the new US President Donald Trump in Washington last Thursday has caused concern in Pakistan and Bangladesh, but in other South Asian countries there has been no perceptible impact.
Before Modi embarked on his visit there were apprehensions about the outcome of the visit in India too. The anxiety was due to Trump’s hard stand on issues such as tariffs, trade, and immigration. He was known to be unabashedly transactional. He was not going to continue America’s traditionally benign policy towards less development countries. Aid for aid’s sake was not on the cards as the peremptory shut-down of USAID projects showed.
There were other prestige issues as well. For starters, Modi was not invited to Trump’s inauguration while Chinese President Xi Jinping was. It was another matter that Xi chose not to attend and sent his Vice President. An invitation was sent to the Government of India and not to Modi as such. This resulted in External Affairs Minister S.Jaishankar representing India.
Just before Modi’s visit, the Trump Administration deported 104 illegal Indian immigrants in an inhuman way by tying them hand and foot and bundling them into a military transport aircraft for the 40-hour journey to India. The people of India, across the board, were shocked at America’s insensitivity. The Indian government played it down due to the pending visit of Modi to the US. It also agreed to take back the illegals if they were really Indian citizens.
Again, in a pre-visit shock treatment, the Trump administration began implementing his higher tariff policy or tariff for tariff policy vis-à-vis countries which had slapped high tariffs on imports from America.To face the inevitable Modi agreed to negotiate tariff changes and also to buy American oil and other products, particularly arms and military aircraft, which satisfied the business-savvy Trump.
Clearly, both Trump and Modi did not want to exacerbate simmering bilateral tensions and put jeopardise their joint interest in resisting Chinas’ moves in South Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
On his part, Trump expressed willingness to support India’s efforts to turn itself into a manufacturing base in competition with China. But it remains to be seen if these plans will fructify because Trump has openly said that India is a hard place to do business in. Therefore it is now for India to progress in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ table.
Strategic analyst Dr.Brahma Chellaney has questioned India’s decision to buy F35s from the US. According to him these are not only expensive machines but are less useful than drones, which India could be bargained for. “As the Ukraine war has shown, missiles and drones, not fighter-jets, are now pivotal to effective air power. The F-35 costs a staggering $110 million per unit or more, making it a prohibitively expensive platform for a poor country like India. India needs to focus more on its domestic missile and drone programs through greater spending and more ambitious goals,” Chellaney said.
Pakistan
The Modi-Trump pow wow caused consternation in Pakistan. On Friday, the Pakistan Foreign Office took objection to the accusation in the India- US joint statement that Pakistan is supporting extremism and linked it to the November 2008 Mumbai terror attack in which 166 Indians died.
The statement also called on Islamabad to “bring to justice those accused of extremist attacks against India and prevent its territory from being used for extremism.”
India says that the Pakistan-based banned group Lashkar-e-Taiba orchestrated the attacks and that one Tahawwur Rana, a Canadian of Pakistani origin, was the mastermind. Driving the point home, Trump himself said: “Today I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters very evil people of the world having to do with the horrific Mumbai terrorist attack, to face justice in India. So, he is going back to India to face justice.”
The extradition of Rana was cleared by the US Supreme Court in January having rejected his review petition. In India, Rana is expected to spill the beans on the conspiracy behind the blasts, to Pakistan’s discomfiture.
However, Pakistan’s government denies being involved in the Mumbai attacks. Its spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said: “We consider the Pakistan-specific reference in the Indo-US joint statement of Feb 13 as one-sided, misleading and contrary to diplomatic norms. We are surprised the reference has been added to the joint statement notwithstanding Pakistan’s counter-terrorism cooperation with the US.”
Khan further stated: “Such references cannot cover up India’s sponsorship of terrorism, subversion and extra-judicial assassinations in the region and beyond, nor can they shift international attention from the stark reality of India being a safe haven for perpetrators of hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities.”
Khan pointed out that the joint statement failed to address India’s non-compliance with United Nations Security Council’s resolutions on Kashmir “which is the key source of tension and instability in the region” and to recognise the “grim human rights situation” in Kashmir.
The spokesperson further said: “Pakistan is also deeply concerned over the planned transfer of military technology to India. Such steps accentuate military imbalances in the region and undermine strategic stability. They remain unhelpful in achieving durable peace in South Asia.”
Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, has called on Islamabad to establish formal channels with the Trump administration, especially on issues related to defence and security cooperation. However, the Trump administration is yet to show any interest in Pakistan.
To the disappointment of Pakistan, Trump and Modi avoided discussing minority rights. Concerns over India’s human rights track record that marked the Obama and Biden administrations, have taken the backseat in Washington.
The relationship between the US and Pakistan has undergone significant changes in recent years, with strategic priorities shifting to India in the region. This shift was evident even during the previous administration of President Joe Biden, who did not directly engage with Pakistani leaders throughout his tenure. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also did not visit Islamabad, despite frequent visits to India.
Another decision affecting Pakistan is the Trump administration’s temporary suspension of the Afghan refugee settlement program. A President’s order suspended the process of issuing special immigrant visas and admitting Afghan refugees for 90 days. There are currently about 25,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan who are scheduled to be resettled in the US, mostly individuals who previously worked with the US military and US contractors in Afghanistan.
Bangladesh
According to The Hindu, Modi shared his ‘concerns’ about Bangladesh with Trump. “The Prime Minister shared his views and indeed, his concerns with regard to recent developments in Bangladesh. He asked how India sees the situation,” the Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.
In response to a media query about the possible involvement of the US “deep state” in the downfall of the Hasina government, Trump said: “There was no role for our deep state. This is something that the Prime Minister has been working on for a long time. I will leave Bangladesh to the Prime Minister.”
Modi, however, chose not to address the Bangladesh issue.
The interim government of Bangladesh is yet to comment on Trump’s remarks, but Bangladesh would not have relished the prospect of Modi handling Bangladesh even as they are suspicions about US interests. On multiple occasions, Sheikh Hasina had suggested that a certain “white person” had met her, asking her to surrender control over the strategically important St. Martin’s Island near the Chittagong coastline.
The US has been a strong supporter of transparent elections in Bangladesh. The previous US ambassador Peter Haas had campaigned for this before Bangladesh’s last election in January 2024. The Charge d’Affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, Tracey Ann Jacobson, met Bangladesh’s Adviser on Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Asif Nazrul, as well as Professor Muhammad Yunus last month regarding judicial reform, counter-terrorism, and development.
The Bangladesh media also reported that Jacobson has continued her interactions with various stakeholders in Bangladesh, and earlier this week, had met with Army Chief Waker-Uz-Zaman to discuss various issues.
Though Trump is not an advocate of human rights, he had also spoken against the atrocities committed against Hindus in Bangladesh in before he became President.
Right now, however, Trump has left Bangladesh to India, being the more interested party with higher stakes than the US has ever had. He told the media that he was leaving Bangladesh to the Indian PM as he had handled it “for hundreds of years” (whatever than means!). Modi himself avoided referring to Bangladesh.
But Trump’s remark and Modi’s grim-faced silence would intrigue the Bangladesh’s ruling dispensation as it anyway suspects India to be the force behind Hasina’s bid to stage a comeback.
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