Influenced by Pakistan, anti-India Yunus is planning a dangerous move against India, it's planning to buy..., it's dangerous because...
Bangladesh's interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus
In a significant development after India-Pakistan tensions, reports have it that there are grow concerns that India should monitor the ongoing development in ties between Bangladesh and China. A recent report carried by Navbharat Times indicated that a seven-member Bangladeshi Army delegation under Major General Moazzem Hossain will visit China from May 25. The delegation is expected to observe live firing of 155mm SH-15 self-propelled howitzers made by China's state-owned NORINCO. Here are all the details you should know about the recent development and also why India should be worried.
The report has said that the Bangladesh Army is planning to purchase truck-mounted self-propelled howitzers from the state-owned China North Industries Group Corporation Limited (NORINCO). For a background, NORINCO is a major Chinese defence company, which is known for supplying weapons and equipment to the People's Liberation Army of China. About SH-15 artillery system
The SH-15 artillery system was inducted by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) between 2018 and 2020. Although a new weapon of the Chinese defense company, it has been exported to several countries, including Pakistan. The gun is capable of firing a variety of shells, including conventional and rocket-assisted rounds.
Readers should note that Pakistan had used the same artillery gun on the LoC against India during the recent tensions with India. Update on China-Bangladesh relations
After Bangladesh Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to leave the country, a post-Hasina Bangladesh seemed like a fresh opportunity for China to steer a more pro-China Bangladesh, especially in policies where the previous government showed preference for India, especially the Teesta project.
As per a report by IANS, China maintained a cautious and calculative approach with Dhaka with this intention. As a display of its 'non-interference' approach, Beijing sought engagements with not only the interim government, but also political parties across all factions (except the now ostracized Awami League) via 'heavy endorsement'. Elections in Bangladesh
Readers should note that the Bangladesh elections are slated to be held within December-June, although with no clear roadmap, the Chinese Communist Party has already embarked a party-to-party engagement by inviting delegates of several political parties to visit China.
(With inputs from agencies)
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Boko Haram, one of the most brutal terrorist organisations in the world, wants to turn it into a full-blown Islamic state. Some rulers may be liberal and some conservative, but the idea that the head of the state must represent religious authority is key in Muslim majority states (no doubt, with some honourable exceptions). Malaysia is somewhere in between. Islam is the official religion, but it gives guaranteed political spaces to its minorities as long as they don't threaten Islamic supremacy. The second part of the statement is vital, for it does not imply equal treatment for all religions. A Pew Research survey on Muslim attitudes to Sharia law in 39 countries (India was not surveyed, for some strange reason) found an overwhelming majority of Muslims favouring Sharia. 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The mere creation of Bangladesh did not enable the country to embrace secularism or pluralism, as it is now becoming apparent. For the future, it also implies that Balochistan may also become another Islamist country once it achieves freedom from Punjabi-ruled Pakistan. We must, of course, support the freedom movement to weaken Pakistan, but we should not be naive enough to believe that it implies a win for secularism in the end. As far as Pakistan is concerned, India has to reckon with the possibility that even if, at some point, its army were to be cut down to size, that country's enmity to 'Hindu India' will not cease. Terrorism could remain a way of life in Pakistan, either as one country or in truncated form, especially since terrorists are integrated into the army and civil society. A smaller Pakistan will become even more prone to foisting terror, since its army can no longer defeat India. What a truncated Pakistan will give us is a brief reprieve. Pakistan, as one unit or many mini-Pakistans, will continue to remain a problem for India, and possibly the world, under army rule or civilian rule. Also read: Asim Munir just stole his 5th star & has nothing to show for it. It'll make him desperate, dangerous Open up for reinterpretation So, what hope is there for peace in the future? The answer lies with thinking and questioning Muslims, who have been intimidated into silence by jihadi elements. It is only when ordinary Muslims start openly questioning the basic tenets of Islam and modifying or reinterpreting them for the modern era that jihadism will start shrinking. It is worth noting that global Islam closed the doors to ijtihad—the use of reason to interpret sacred texts—nearly 10 centuries ago, after briefly trying to begin the process during the 10th and 11th centuries CE. The age of Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd (Avicenna and Averroes to western writers), which dawned when Islamic armies ruled parts of Europe and came in touch with Greek philosophy, died by the end of the 11th century, when Al-Ghazali and the Asherite movement closed the gates to ijtihad and declared the Quran as not subject to revisionist and reason-based interpretations. These trends and the victory of non-reason are brilliantly captured in Robert R Reilly's book, The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis. The revival of reason and tolerance needs the wider Muslim polity to end this continuing intellectual suicide. Things will change when Muslims reopen ijtihad. The starting point will be reached when they openly disown the idea of the umma as a brotherhood only of Muslims, or that the kafir is undeserving of equal rights. In India, Muslims must see other Indians, especially non-Muslims, as part of their core umma. The word kafir must be outlawed, for it is does not just mean non-believer, but someone worth dehumanising, and made actionable under the law as a put-down. Till then, we must judge Pakistan or any Islamist nation only in the context of Islamic history and experience. And be ready to defend ourselves. R Jagannathan is former Editorial Director, Swarajya. He tweets at @TheJaggi. Views are personal. (Edited by Theres Sudeep)
