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Scepticism haunts Dhaka bus diplomacy

Ashok Tuteja in Dhaka

Will it prove to be a vehicle of friendship or yet another bitter sub-continental experiment to promote people-to-people contacts?

This question hangs uppermost in the minds of people on both sides of the border as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina launch the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service amid much fanfare.

The suspicions about the success of Indo-Bangla 'bus diplomacy' have arisen mainly on account of the Pakistan-supported intrusion in the Kargil sector, just three months after the inauguration of the Delhi-Lahore bus service in February.

Whatever the suspicions, one thing is certain: people in Bangladesh will no longer have to undertake costly air journeys to Calcutta or Madras for medical treatment.

''Our long-standing demand for a regular bus service between Dhaka and Calcutta is being fulfilled... It is an occasion to celebrate,'' said Mahboob ul Haq, a leading lawyer of Dhaka, who frequently travels to India for treatment of heart disease.

Medical services are costly and inadequate in Bangladesh and most people who can afford, have to go to India for treatment.

People in Dhaka are hopeful that it will now become easy for them to travel to India by road, spending just about $ 11 on a one-way ticket.

An estimated 500,000 people travel annually between the two countries and nearly a fourth are Bangladeshis.

Another reason why many feel that the bus should be a success story is that the people in Dhaka and Calcutta are emotionally attached to each other because of historical reasons.

Many people in Bangladesh have their relatives in India and vice versa but it has been virtually impossible for them to meet each other so far. It is hoped that the bus will bring them closer.

Shamim Ahmed, a senior journalist, is confident that the bus will herald a new beginning in Indo-Bangladesh relations and will not go the way of the Delhi-Lahore bus.

He cites two reasons for this optimism. India and Bangladesh have no major problems between them and the people of Dhaka and Calcutta speak the same language and share a common same culture.

So far, the opposition parties have preferred not to criticise the launching of the bus service. Former prime minister and leading opposition leader Khalida Zia has expressed the hope that the Bangladesh government would protect the interests of transporters in the country.

She has also felt that the bus service agreement should not be a surrender to India but should be firmed up on an equal footing.

Though fundamentalist organisations have not opposed the launching of the bus, they have opposed the visit of Vajpayee to Dhaka as they hold the Bharatiya Janata Party responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya and the ongoing military operations in Kashmir.

The agreement to facilitate the Calcutta-Dhaka bus service was initiated with Bangladesh in February. Operators on both sides carried out a trial run in April and the agreement was signed on Thursday.

The commercial run of the bus which will take around 12 and a half hours to reach one city from the other, will begin from June 29.

UNI

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