When neighbours slip into prolonged crisis

As India's eastern neighbour Myanmar, which shares its border with a number of northeastern states, has witnessed a civil war for the last several years.

- NAVA THAKURIA

Another bordering nation, Bangladesh, is experiencing a socio-political turmoil for many months directly impacting the region. As the Muslim majority South Asian is surrounded by India's 4,096 kilometre border, where Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram cumulatively share 1,879 kilometre, the mayhem that surfaces there must have a reflection in various sectors of northeast India.

Regular trades between Bangladesh and India have been affected, where the flow of tourists between the two neighbouring nations has been halted since the change of regime in Dhaka last year.

The political situation of Bangladesh continues to be grim as the current interim government, led by Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, is bent upon taking legal actions against the ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is incidentally taking shelter in India.

A recent UN report describing the horrific picture of atrocities on agitating students and common Bangladeshi nationals by the then Awami League-led government in Dhaka has simply empowered the caretaker government in Dhaka to raise voices for her repatriation.

Lately, Prof Yunus visited some secret prisons in the capital city, which were used by Hasina to terrorise the opponents during her consecutive 15-year-long tenure, to get more arguments for pursuing punishment for the ousted lady premier and many of her associates.

The interim administration, which was formed following Hasina's escape on 5 August 2024 to take an urgent refuge in India, recently urged New Delhi to hand over Hasina to face hundreds of criminal cases in her home country.

In a recent media interview, Prof Yunus asserted that Hasina must be brought back to justice, otherwise the people of Bangladesh will not forgive the caretaker government.