The foreign diplomat raised issues of India's contribution to the 1971 liberation war, the change in relations between the two countries after the assassination of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu in 1975 and the decline in relations till the death of President Ziaur Rahman. , He said that a section within India is angry that the people of Bangladesh are not as grateful to India as they should be for its contribution to Bangladesh's liberation war. This sentiment still persists in some sections of India.
Tauheed Hussain said that after the Awami League came to power in 1996, there was a positive change in relations between the two close neighbours. Only then was the Ganga Treaty signed. An agreement was signed to restore peace in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. During that time both sides took into consideration each other's problems and concerns and started talks.
During the talks, the issue of illegal migration from Bangladesh to India was also raised. However, despite considerable pressure from India, Bangladesh refused to sell the gas. Relations between the two countries also came under some strain when several members of India's Border Security Force were killed by the Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB), then known as BDR.
This former diplomat feels that when BNP came to power in 2001, relations between the two countries once again took a nosedive. At that time an incident like recovery of 10 truckloads of weapons had happened.
The former foreign secretary said history says that the best combination for relations between the two countries is Awami League in government in Dhaka and Congress in Delhi. The ambition of both these governments was to take relations to new heights. Bangladesh played an instrumental role in suppressing insurgents in India's north-east.