Last Wednesday, Bangladesh and India signed a framework agreement for utilising a USD 500 million line-of-credit extended by the Modi government last year. The countries also signed a couple of memorandums of understanding (MoU) for collaboration between the naval forces of the two countries. These were signed following back-to-back discussions between our defence delegation team led by the principal staff officer of the Bangladesh Army and the Indian Defence Secretary at Delhi's South Block.
Even though, the full details of the agreements could not be known, but whatever excerpt has been highlighted in the print media is enough to raise eyebrows. Under the framework agreement -- Bangladesh will identify its defence hardware needs and India will examine its locally produced armaments so that the two sides can 'move forward'. Moreover, Bangladesh can also spend a 'certain per centage' of the USD 500 million line-of-credit to buy weapons from countries other than India but that is only subject to 'India's approval'.
It's somewhat mysterious that our delegation and defence think-tank to have failed analysing the overall credibility of the Indian defence manufacturing industry. Be it small arms or tanks to fighter jets -- the Indian army itself is not only the world's largest importer of foreign made weaponry and ammunitions -- it barely relies on locally produced military hardware. Up until now Russia continues to be one of India's most significant strategic partners and biggest arms supplier- grabbing about 75 per cent of its weapons imports. The remaining 25 per cent is made up of the US and Western European countries, particularly France, Britain and Germany.
Namely, there are two broad reasons why India is repeatedly failing to become complete self-reliant in its arms production. Number one, India has a reputation in the international arms industry for importing substandard equipment at inflated prices. And number two, the nexus between the mandarins of the Indian defence ministry, the arms dealers syndicate and state-owned arms companies. Both factors have been confirmed and explained in details by a number of globally renowned Indian media houses.
To cite a specific example, less than a year ago, the Indian Army itself rejected homemade 7.62x51 mm assault rifles for a second year in a row because of poor quality and ineffective firepower. We don't have to be weaponry experts to comment -- if the Indian defence manufacturing sector can't even produce an international -- quality rifle, what can it then produce?
The Arjun MK 1/ 2 tanks, Dhruva light weight helicopters or the BrahMos missile success stories are surely there following limited production , but the country is still a far cry from fulfilling not even one fourth the demand placed by its defence establishments.
Now let's take a closer look inside the Indian defence budget and deficits. With a huge chink in its armour, the Indian army is short of cash by as much as 15, 783 crore rupees. Its military hardware crunch - ranging from small arms , helicopters to various types of missiles - amounts to more than Rs 45 ,000 crore. Understandably, injecting USD 500 million to its own army would have been more relevant than offering it as a credit line to Bangladesh. I suggest my readers to grab the latest issue of the weekly INDIA TODAY to get a deeper understanding.
The facts and figures mentioned baffles this writer, why it has become suddenly so important for extending the line -of-credit to Bangladesh, and since, among all lines-of-credit, the Indian loans are the most difficult in terms of their materialisation coupled with lengthy delays.
Now coming back to a few conditions of the deals mentioned by the media, why should India be allowed to examine the armaments we need? Are we lacking in having our own weapons inspectors, experts and defence analysts? Our needs for defence procurements should never be assessed and scrutinised by a third country. Most importantly, if Bangladesh has to spend the USD 500 million line-of-credit as per Indian endorsement -- we practically don't have any authority over the loan - India does. These conditions are evidently one-sided and guarantees sheer Indian dominance over our defence establishments.
We don't know what our defence delegation discussed with their Indian counterpart, but despite being a small country, Bangladesh never depended on Indian arms and Indian military advisory as much as now. Our defence cooperation track record suggests, since our inception as an independent nation, we have mostly relied on globally reputed suppliers such as Russia and China. US, UK and Turkey have been added to that list in recent times.
Last of all, inking of the deals took place at a time when global arms suppliers are frequently eyeing Bangladesh in particular. Given the country's increased geographical importance, growing economy, stable GDP growth and increased defence expenditure, we have been reported to emerge as a regional military power by 2030. Our USD 3.2 billion defence budget for the fiscal years 2017-18 is 1.25 per cent of our GDP - ranking us third largest after India and Pakistan in the SAARC region.
It's right on this point where we have to be extra-ordinarily vigilant so not to handover undue military advantages to third parties. Our government and defence establishments must rethink the inked defence deals with India.
The writer is Assistant Editor, The Daily Observer
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