RAW Shaped Bangladesh's Histories: Hidden Agendas and Influence of India in Bangladeshi Geopolitics

During the July Revolution and afterwards (and in some cases, even before that), speculation about Indian Intelligence Operatives of Research and Analysis Wing (commonly known as RAW) working in Dhaka to destabilize certain events and collaborate with the previous Fascist Regime has always been one of the peaks of discussions.

While many tend not to heed such talks and seem not to even believe the idea of "RAW" existing in Dhaka, many more do believe and take this as a threat to the progression of post-revolution Bangladesh's advancement. Since the question still remains, to answer this, we must know about the history of "RAW" operating inside Bangladesh as historical evidence is the best way to always prove the credibility of such debated topics. We will present this historical evidence chronologically to make the discussion easier to understand.

1.Pre-independence and activities of RAW in Liberation War of Bangladesh

Even before the birth of Bangladesh, "RAW" with the support and orders from Delhi, started its operation to segregate Pakistan as early as 1968. On account of Asoka Raina’s "Inside RAW", during the early times of the Liberation War of Bangladesh in 1971, "RAW" started to train the Bengali refugees to set up Mukti Bahini and organize it into a fully pledged rebel group as the Indian Army was not yet ready and would not be mobilised till December to intervene in Bangladesh.

2.Post independence Bangladesh and formation of Jatiyo Rakkhi Bahini

Ever since then, for a long time, RAW's presence in this region wasn't fully concealed. In post-independence Bangladesh in 1972, right after Mujib's comeback from Pakistan, He started the formation of a security force known as Jatiya Rakkhi Bahini with the loyalist part of Mujib Bahini without the discussion of his cabinet and he proceeded to give the responsibility of forming the force to Major General S. S. Uban who was a recruit of CIA in the 60s and then were working as the IG of RAW. According to an article in The Economic Times, a top RAW official with permission from Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1974, met with Sheikh Mujib to warn him about conspiracies against him. Mujib however ignored those concerns.

"These are my own children and they will not harm me," the Bangladesh leader had told Rameshwar Nath Kao, founder of the India's external intelligence agency, who meet him in December, 1974 with the approval of the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

3.Helping the insurgency in Chittagong Hill Tracts

Due to Mujib not giving special rights for ethnic minorities of hill tracts in the constitution, a militant movement was launched against the state of Bangladesh. India took advantage of these chaos. Morarji Desai, in his book called "Insurgent Crossfire", also detailed RAW's involvement in backing the insurgency of Chittagong Hill Tracts from its early stage. He also said how RAW would proceed to mediate the split between the Larma Group and the Priti Chakma Group.

4.Trying to help forces within Bangladesh who wanted to oust the dictator Ershad.

From different accounts such as the newspaper "New India Express", "Prothom Alo" and other books, we get to know how RAW had an excellent presence during the Ershad regime as the growing threat from Jamat-e-Islami was threatening and Ershad's government was cautious of India's influence. An incident in February 1982 showed that the Bangladeshis were almost paranoid about the presence of Indian officials in Dhaka. Later, RAW launched a covert operation codenamed "Operation Farewell" to oust the Ershad regime from power. As such, RAW officials would also, later on, meet with Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh Awami League and Khaleda Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party to mitigate their differences and show them the common ground of bringing down the Ershad's dictatorial regime. Their operation would see success in 1990 as many, including Ershad, didn't know about it till he was under house arrest on 10th December 1990.

5.Trying to influence electoral politics in Bangladesh post Ershad fall.

“The Indian intelligence agency’s objective was very simple, ‘whoever is going to rule Dhaka must have a favourable approach towards India"

-Quote from an Indian spy in a book according to Prothom Alo

Later on, Spy Master Amar Bhusan also remarked about Khaleda Zia's ascension to power after winning the election. He added that RAW was alarmed over increased harassment of pro-India politicians, large-scale radicalisation and meticulously planned infiltration of trained jihadis into Indian territory by Jamaat-e-Islami, which was operating as a semi-autonomous political force under the newly elected government of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and RAW would then worked to dismantle them. All these aside, RAW still operated heavily even before the Fascist regime and during Hasina's rule. It is said, according to an article published by BBC, that during the 2004 arms and ammunition haul in Chittagong, it was RAW who heard about it from pro-Indian bureaucrats and proceeded to force the then Bangladesh Government by the Indian government to confiscate it before it reached the border.

6.1/11 and India's agenda to keep Hasina in power.

The neutrality of the caretaker government of 2007-2008 after the notorious event of "1/11" is often questioned as it also speculated of RAW's involvement and influence behind the government. Since the post-revolution Bangladesh, we have come to know about many involvements of RAW in certain events of Bangladesh and how it supported the fascist regime such as RAW's involvement in the BDR Revolt to erase the skilled army officers and of kidnapping of thousands of politicians, political thinkers, other professionals and even innocent civilians and imprisoning them in a secret facility of DGFI called "Aynaghor" or "House of Mirror".

7.Conclusion

From the evidence which is presented, we cannot stop to think if any of the important histories of Bangladesh has ever happened without the influence of India's intelligence and government and if Bangladesh was a satellite country from the very start. India has always tried to take advantage of internal chaos in Bangladesh way before its independence. In geopolitics while things like these are expected, the sovereignty of Bangladesh as a nation state remains fickle as it finds itself always being on the verge of intervention by India in it's domestic affairs. The geological location and position of Bangladesh in the world map has put it in a tough position like no other. How Bangladesh will handle relations with India in the near future remains to be seen.

Sources:
1)Book by Journalist Yatish Yadav:RAW: A History of India’s Covert Operations
2)Book on history of RAW suspects CIA role in Bangabandhu’s murder:
https://en.prothomalo.com/bangladesh/book-on-history-of-raw-suspects-cia-role-in-bangabandhus-murder
3)Insurgent Crossfire: North-east IndiaBook by Subir Bhaumik
4)R&AW covert ops dismantled Jamaat-e-Islami terror camps in 1992, reveals spymaster Amar Bhushan in book
https://www.firstpost.com/india/raw-covert-ops-dismantled-jamaat-e-islami-terror-camps-in-1992-reveals-spymaster-amar-bhushan-in-book-4636441.html

5)The Zero-Cost Mission/The Wily AgentBook by Amar Bhushan

6)Asoka Raina’s Inside RAW: the story of India’s Secret Service published by Vikas Publishing House of New Delhi.
7)মুক্তিযুদ্ধের পূর্বাপর by মইদুল হাসান