Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia (Retd.), former DG, Military Operations, Indian Army and Director, Centre for Joint Warfare Studies, New Delhi speaks with Col Anil Bhat (Retd.) on growing anti-India activities in Bangladesh and Pakistan-China intel collusion | SAM Conversation
00:00Welcome to SAM Conversation, a program of South Asia Monitor. Our guest this evening,
00:14it is our pleasure to welcome Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, a very seasoned old paratrooper
00:24of the Special Forces, who was the Director General Military Operations and then the Director
00:33of the Center for Joint Warfare Studies. Our topic today is a look at Bangladesh where
00:44we see a convergence of Pakistan with its infamous ISI, Inter-Services Intelligence, and of course
00:58the backing of the Chinese. As far as Pakistan is concerned, after this government of sorts
01:09that has come up with a lot of violence and headed by Muhammad Yunus, the ISI, the Pakistan
01:21and the ISI have finally, you know, been able to make an entry again into Bangladesh, where
01:30they had a very, very strong presence in days when Khalidazia was in power, when the Bangladesh
01:37Nationalist Party was in power. And it is during that period that ISI supported a number of our
01:53Indian insurgent turned, insurgent groups which they converted to terrorism. Example, United Liberation
02:03Nationalist Front of Assam Alpha, United National Liberation Front of Manipur, the NSCN, the National
02:12Socialist Council of Nagaland, often referred to as Nagalim. These are some of the three but they were
02:21more and they converted these, what were classic insurgent groups to terrorists, you know, proper terrorist groups.
02:33Anyway, they have made a presence there again. And in also it's a, it's a little disturbing to, to hear about the death of a US Army officer,
02:48the death of a US Army officer in Dhaka, in a hotel, on 30th August. There's lots of inputs about, you know, this
03:01Pakistani presence in the Chinese and I wouldn't go into it.
03:10Vinod, I request you to throw some light from your side.
03:16Vinod, thank you sir, Jahan. And always a pleasure and an honour to be on Sam's conversation sir, especially with you. My senior from the Caribbean days and always a learning experience, talking to you. Thank you sir.
03:28No sir, coming straight to the point. Bangladesh I think is, is one neighbour which is very critical and important to India's interests, especially in the North East.
03:38we share the longest
03:41land border with Bangladesh
03:43at 409 6 kilometers
03:45Bangladesh also
03:47dominates the Siluguri corridor
03:49which is 24 by 22 kilometers wide
03:51and the Siluguri corridor
03:53is the only land connector
03:54land bridge between 8 and a half
03:57states it's not the seven sisters
03:59because we also have Sekemp
04:00and North Bengal
04:038 and a half states
04:04it's 5 and a half crore people
04:06and since you know
04:08you talked about the Begum Zia
04:09times when the Indian
04:12were given open shelter
04:14in North
04:16Bangladesh and
04:18West Bangladesh
04:20very close
04:22to a border and immigration took place
04:25immigrants are there whether you call it
04:26economic immigration you call it otherwise
04:28and the Kishangai sector which is the
04:30narrowest point
04:31has had a demographic shift with 70%
04:34now more than 70% followers of the faith of Islam
04:39and many of them are from Bangladesh
04:41Bangladesh immigration also upset the population
04:47demographic patterns in North Bengal
04:50and East Bengal
04:52and in Assamos
04:53similarly they also have a border with
04:56Mizoram
04:56and Manipur
04:58the only one
04:59you know
04:59three sides is India
05:01only 100 kilometers with Myanmar
05:03and
05:04now if you look at it
05:06sir
05:06we
05:06the liberation of Bangladesh
05:08in 1971
05:09we helped the
05:12the Bangladeshis
05:13after Operation Searchlight
05:15where it was believed that over 3 million
05:18people died
05:20they were raped
05:21and Operation Searchlight
05:23was the aim of the Pakistani army
05:25to change the DNA of
05:29Bemalis
05:30yes
05:31how can
05:32how can
05:33you know
05:34Muslims have red beards
05:38and dark skin and all
05:39so that
05:40that was one of the aims of Operation Searchlight
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