"Saving nine lives is more important than news or your tweet. Please ask your Indian officials to rescue the stranded Bangladeshis in Sumy and Mariupol."
Bangladesh's Ambassador to Poland Sultana Laila Hossain asserted this newsman with sheer anxiety and concern over the telephone on March 4, after I contacted her to react to the evacuation of one Bangladeshi national from Ukraine.
Ambassador Laila Hossain was arranging the safe and dignified repatriation of the Bangladeshi nationals amid the emergency emanating from the war in Ukraine. The 11th batch of Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS) Foreign Affairs cadre officer was picking up calls from every stranded Bangladeshi. Her deft diplomatic skills and concerns for compatriots at the time of crisis should serve as an example.
There were a slew of challenges before Bangladesh to immediately evacuate their nationals from Ukraine. Above all, Bangladesh doesn't have a mission in Ukraine. Ambassador Sultana Laila Hossain was writing and dialing to Bangladesh's missions in Moscow and New Delhi to ensure safe evacuation of Bangladeshis, after ICRC failed to assist her in this process.
Rescued by India within days, the team nested in Polish capital Warsaw. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressed her gratitude to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rescuing and airlifting 10 stranded Bangladeshis from besieged Ukraine, who were safely rescued by India under its massive evacuation drive, Operation Ganga.
Around 700 Bangladeshis were in Ukraine, when Ukraine roared and ramped up her retaliation against Russia. Almost all the Bangladeshi escapees from Ukraine entered Poland, Hungary, Moldova, and Romania. Prior to the Russian attack, the strength of the Bangladeshi community was around 1,500, but many of them didn't register to the Bangladesh Embassy in Poland.
In addition to the Indian Air Force’s C17 Globemaster, India scheduled a fleet of over 90 civilian flights to evacuate its 19,000 citizens from Ukraine and the neighbouring countries of Hungary, Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Slovakia. India also sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine on its request.
India’s Operation Ganga rescued stranded citizens irrespective of the colour of their passports, including from Nepal, Tunisia, and Pakistan. A Pakistani Student Asma Shafiq, who was trapped in Ukraine and travelled with Bangladeshi national Rubaiyat Habib on her way to Poland, also praised India's evacuation drive. She expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials at the Indian Embassy in Kiev after evacuation. This reporter also contacted her, while she was in Poland.
As Bangladesh and India commemorate its 50th year of strong, diplomatic bonds, by saving the lives of Bangladeshi nationals, India proved her care, concern, and camaraderie for Bangladesh.
Credibility of any partnership lies among the actions the two parties take. The unity of Bangladesh and India was reflected when the two abstained from the polls at the UN Security Council and General Assembly. The pair repeated their stance during the UN General Assembly voting on the annexation of Crimea.
Bangladesh and Russia
The Soviet extended its support to India creating Bangladesh in 1971. Having a strong sense of gratitude, Bangladesh can’t simply overturn and ditch Moscow.
The trade between Russia and Bangladesh stands at over $1bn even; the two states have institutionalized the Intergovernmental Commission (IGC) on trade, economic, scientific, and technical cooperation. The Rooppur nuclear power plant is being furnished under Russian support and technology. The defense of Bangladesh also relies much on Russia. Russian military hardware is widely used in Bangladesh.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 26 congratulated President M Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the occasion of Independence Day. President Putin affirmed that Bangladesh and Russia would ensure progress in constructive bilateral cooperation through mutual efforts. In such testing times, it appears that India and Bangladesh have both retained Russia's trust.
Ayanangsha Maitra is a New Delhi based Foreign Affairs correspondent of The New Indian and an organizing member of Bay of Bengal Conversation 2022 in Dhaka.