//php if(!empty($last_str)){if(!preg_match('~[0-9]+~', $first_str)){echo $title;}else{echo $last_str; }}else{echo $title;}?>149 : Hasina’s Visit to India and Emerging Indo-Bangla Relations: Implications for the Region
Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury
18 January 2010
The visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh to India (10-13 January 2010) was
extremely significant in the regional context. It brought the two vibrant democracies in South
Asia – Bangladesh and India – close together and opened the way for their collaboration with
Nepal and Bhutan. Throughout the visit India displayed an awareness of its
disproportionately greater responsibility as the regional pre-eminent power, according
‘sovereign equality’ to a less powerful neighbour, creating a new paradigm for intra-state
relations in South Asia. Can this model be attractive enough for Pakistan to be drawn into a
relationship of ‘trilateralism’ including itself, Bangladesh and India?