'Bangladesh Will Seek Cooperative Ties With India, Protecting Hindus Foremost Duty': Zafar Sobhan

Name: Bangladesh Will Seek Cooperative Ties With India, Protecting Hindus Foremost Duty: Zafar Sobhan - The Wire
Uploaded: 2026-02-16T16:28:45+05:30
Channel: The Wire
Description: In conversation with Karan Thapar, Zafar Sobhan, the editor of Counterpoint, says that whilst Bangladesh under Tarique Rahman will seek good relations with Pakistan, it is a very different country to what it was 20 years ago.

In conversation with Karan Thapar, Zafar Sobhan, the editor of Counterpoint, says that whilst Bangladesh under Tarique Rahman will seek good relations with Pakistan, it is a very different country to what it was 20 years ago.

Karan Thapar

In a comprehensive interview to discuss the outcome of the recent elections in Bangladesh and the new government that will be formed by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party with Tarique Rahman as the new prime minister, one of Bangladesh’s most highly regarded newspaper editors has said that Bangladesh is now a democracy, even if credible questions can be raised about an election that excluded the Awami League, a major party.

In conversation with Karan Thapar for The Wire, Zafar Sobhan, the editor of Counterpoint and former editor of the Dhaka Tribune, says that the Tarique Rahman government will seek “cooperative” relations with Delhi and ensuring the safety and security of Bangladesh’s 13 million Hindus will be the “foremost” duty of the new government.

Sobhan says he does not believe the incoming BNP government will repeat the free hand that was given in 2001-2006, by the BNP-Jamaat government of the time, to Indian insurgent groups and, particularly, ULFA. He also believes that whilst Bangladesh under Tarique Rahman will seek good relations with Pakistan, it is a very different country to what it was 20 years ago; it is economically a far more successful and powerful country than Pakistan, with a considerably greater per capita income.

Sobhan explicitly says that there will be no role for the ISI in Bangladesh. “I think he (Tarique Rahman) will be cognizant of the fact that if he seems to be too pally with Pakistan that that will have a negative effect or repercussion with New Delhi.”

“The notion that Bangladesh will become a play thing in the hands of the ISI is insulting. It is reading from a playbook of two decades ago which is no longer existing in today’s world. I think the fundamental difference is that, yes, Bangladesh may have a good relationship with Pakistan but the relationship we had two decades ago, which was so worrisome for India, is very very unlikely to recur. This is because Bangladesh is a very different country from what we were two decades ago and our relationship with Pakistan, even though it may be a good relationship, it’s not going to be a subservient relationship. And, therefore, India has nothing to worry about in terms of Pakistani activity, in terms of whether ISI is going to be active in Bangladesh,” he adds.

Watch the full interview.

This article went live on February sixteenth, two thousand twenty six, at twenty-eight minutes past four in the afternoon.

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