Nothing significant was expected to emerge from the three day-long Indo-Bangladesh Home Secretary level dialogue in Dhaka between 15-17 September 2004. Given the mutual distrust that continues, this meeting was a fruitless exercise summed up by the Indian Home Secretary, Dhirendra Singh, stating at a joint press conference. "We exchanged our positions and explained our perceptions. We noted that these are the problems that exist for a long time and we agreed to work closely on these matters."

The core of the worsening Indo-Bangladesh ties has been the blatant support provided by Dhaka to militant outfits operating in India's Northeast. India's hopes for action by Dhaka, especially after the Bhutanese military operations in December 2004, have been belied amidst continued assertions by Bangladesh that none of the militant outfits are present in that country. India's request for joint operations against the militants has been refused, and Bangladesh has charged India with sheltering its criminals and 39 anti-Bangladesh camps, including those of the Shadhin Bangabhumi Andolon and the United People's Democratic Front (UPDF).

Given the fact that militant outfits wreck havoc in various northeast states from bases and safe houses in Bangladesh, India's continued request for action against them is justified. However, Dhaka refuses to budge which explains that the malaise has gone deeper than official tolerance of the presence of the militants, whom the Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has described as 'freedom fighters'.

Recently, the Border Security Force (BSF) Chief Ajai Raj Sharma said "There are firm reports that ISI has set up new training centres for terrorists in Bangladesh. Most militant groups operating in Kashmir now are being trained in Bangladesh." In fact, this trend indicates that Bangladesh's policy of letting its territory be used by Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) for promoting anti-India activities is getting further strengthened. In the first week of September, a Bengali daily, Pratham Alo, from Dhaka published a series of reports detailing the activities of the Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami (HUJI) and the Northeastern militants in that country. Some HUJI trained militants were arrested in Assam following the Dhemaji explosions on 15 August.

As successive Indian governments waited and hoped that Bangladesh would change its stance, the clout of the ISI and the Islamic fundamentalists has only grown in that country. Starting with the ULFA in the early 1990s, Indian inactivity, even during the 'friendly' Sheikh Hasina regime, has only led to a slide that poses a serious challenge now. Even today, the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, chooses to avoid accusing Bangladesh. "I would not like to say anything which would create bad blood between Bangladesh and India," Patil was quoted having said on 5 September echoing the 17 August statement of the Bangladesh Minister (Press), M Anwarul Haq, "There is no use blaming others for the failure to handle one's own problems."

Bangladesh's action is a serious challenge to India's nation-building efforts in the Northeastern region, where a growing number of militant outfits indicates a persisting sense of alienation, exacerbated by a dismal state of governance. Such external support to militancy needs to be viewed seriously and any ambiguity regarding fighting a joint war on terrorism with Dhaka requires to be quickly discarded.

Bangladesh is accurate in its perception that it has been subjected to a lot of criticism in the Indian media. An article in the Dhaka based Financial Express on 20 September said, "Bangladesh and India are two friendly nations. But unfortunately there is mistrust and misunderstanding about India in Bangladesh. As a matter of fact, there is Indo-phobia not only in Bangladesh but in this region as well." However, there is little realisation of the need for considering a forceful intervention to protect Indian interests since the Bangladeshi regime has chosen to protect and facilitate the stay of anti-India forces in its territory.

One must sympathise with Bangladesh's concerns about trafficking of women and children, or curbing smuggling of arms and drugs from India. However, these concerns can only be addressed in an atmosphere of mutual trust and cooperation. Bangladesh's capability to break free, let alone curtail, the ISI and Islamist groups appears to be severely limited given the way it has become dependant on these forces.