Koizumi to avoid Bangladesh during his South Asia tour

The period coincides with the yearly holiday session in Japan when most of the offices and institution remain close for a few consecutive days. Koizumi has decided to avail the opportunity to pursue Japan's bid for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council, which he sees as one of the principal achievements that he intends to leave as he is poised to give up the leadership post in September.

In India Koizumi's focus of attention would obviously be on UN reform, for which Japan is pressing hard with the aim of ensuring Tokyo's permanent membership at the Security Council along with Brazil, India and Germany. Some observers also see the visit to India as quite significant from economic side, as Japan foresees an emerging India with which forging a closer economic tie would benefit both. Pakistan most likely has received a compromising inclusion in the itinerary as South Asian watchers in Japan feel that there is a need to convince Islamabad not to rock the boat of permanent membership of the Security Council as four nations including India are now in a firm agreement to achieve the goal.

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During his stopover in Islamabad, the Japanese prime minister is expected to urge for a peaceful settlement of the long-disputed Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan. He is also supposed to utter a few words of praise for President Pervez Musharraf for his effort in containing terrorist threat in the region and would also offer Japanese assistance in various fields.

To many in Bangladesh, it might come as a surprise that Dhaka has been omitted from the list of places the Japanese prime minister is expected to make stop over during his short visit. Many among us tend to believe that among all south Asian countries, Bangladesh probably occupies a higher ranking in Japan's preference. I'm not sure where from such conclusion has been derived. It might be a mere expectation among the present ruling elites of our country that the negotiation that Bangladesh conducted under the leadership of late Ziaur Rahman during a brief hijack drama of a Japan Airline jet almost thirty years ago had a permanent impact on Japan, and as a result, Dhaka deserves a preferential treatment in matters related to Japan and South Asia.

Moreover, in the past it had been a regular practice by the Japanese prime ministers to visit a number of countries of the region during one single trip. Toshiki Kaifu visited India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1988, and the next Japanese prime minister to visit the region was Yoshiro Mori, who in August 2000 made a four-nation trip to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. As a result, it might sound quite rational to ask why the present Japanese prime minister has decided to avoid Bangladesh and Nepal.

Of course there is no official explanation to the matter as it is diplomatically not correct to explain why the leader of a certain country avoids visiting some places and prefers others. It is an exclusive decision of a sovereign government and hence no official briefing is expected on such matters. Yet, the question might haunt many of us who might take it as a heart breaking news comparable to one conveyed to a deserted lover about the break up of a desired relationship. More so because we tend to see Japan as a very close friend with whom we have good rapport almost in every matter.

Saying so, we should not forget that Bangladesh has not been alone to be side stepped in the itinerary of the forthcoming South Asia tour of the Japanese prime minister. The other country being Nepal, we might ask us the question what has been common in the eyes of Japanese about Bangladesh and Nepal to be in the same group of nations. In recent days the foreign ministry of Japan had issued two separate statements expressing concern about things happening in Bangladesh and in Nepal. The first statement issued towards the end of January was concerning the brutal killing of our former finance minister and a former UN Under Secretary General, Shah AMS Kibria. Japan urged the government to bring the killers to justice and expressed hope that such atrocities would not be repeated.

The second statement issued on February 2 dealt with the situation in Nepal, in which Japan hoped that Nepal's political crisis would be solved as soon as possible and expressed concern over detention of political leaders. Japanese foreign ministry also urged the government of Nepal that the freedom guaranteed by the constitution is restored without any delay.

For Nepal the recent political development comes as an obvious reason for the Japanese prime minister not to visit that country. As for Bangladesh, despite the official statement concerning the situation of the country, a second stumbling block seems to be more in line with the Japanese decision.

In international relations, visits by heads of states or governments are seen as reciprocal practices. Countries that enjoy positions of privilege are more inclined to take into account the reciprocity as an essential precondition for exchanging visits. Our former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Japan in early 1998, less than two years after she formed her government. Yoshiro Mori's visit to Bangladesh in August 2000 has generally been seen in Japan as a reciprocal one.

One of the striking failures of the present government is no doubt its inability to arrange a visit of Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to Japan since she took office in October 2001, despite the self-declared claim by some within the ruling elites that Japan prefers the present government more than the previous one. As a result, for the Japanese prime minister no room was left even for a consideration of the inclusion of Bangladesh in his itinerary. It looks like we already have missed the boat, as we will be forced to contain ourselves by watching Junichiro Koizumi passing by so close from our door.