Thirty-five years after India helped liberate Bangladesh, relations between the two nations are strained. Relations between Dhaka and Islamabad, on the other hand, continue to improve, particularly after Pakistan's President General Pervez Musharraf [Images] made an indirect apology for the atrocities of 1971. Many politicians now in power in Dhaka had opposed independence, and some even plaintively note that had they not declared independence, they would have been a nuclear weapons State now.
Many Indian observers have slammed then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi [Images] for not having negotiated a settlement on Kashmir in return for the 93,000 Pakistani POWs captured after the war.
Indian concerns now include illegal migration, support for rebels in the northeast, increasing Bangladeshi links with Pakistan's ISI and terrorist acts in India, regular border skirmishes, and the general anti-India mood in Bangladesh.
In retrospect, was India right in helping create Bangladesh? Tell us
The 1971 War: 35 Years On
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