About a month ago, in early September, I found myself in conversation with a Bangladeshi bartender at a Toronto hotel. With an agitated demeanour, he shared some startling claims and his personal thoughts:
Sheikh Hasina, the recently ousted prime minister of Bangladesh, has siphoned off $92 billion of public funds. India, her current refuge, is fully aware of this.
On her orders, 1,500 students were massacred by the police. India must extradite her to face justice for these crimes.
In recent years, 2.7 million Indians have been employed within Bangladesh's government and public sector.
His allegations grew even darker. He suggested that not only were the Bangladesh police responsible for the killing of the students, but others as well. "The investigation reveals that some bullets weren't of Bangladeshi origin. Who else was involved," he hinted ominously.
"Are you suggesting that India had a hand in this," I probed. He merely shrugged, his hands swirling in the air, leaving the question unanswered.
Though his accusations were wild and baseless, they highlighted a troubling truth — the susceptibility of some Bangladeshis to anti-India propaganda. However, one statement he made had a ring of prophecy: Watch closely; in the coming years, Bangladesh and Pakistan will move closer together.