In Dhaka, on 19 March 1972, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the Government of India and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh (Indo-Bangla Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace / Indira–Mujib Treaty). The bilateral instrument runs for twenty-five years, renewable by mutual agreement.

Its twelve articles proclaim lasting peace and friendship, respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and non-interference; condemn colonialism and racism; reaffirm non-alignment and peaceful coexistence; provide for consultations on major international problems; and expand economic, scientific, technical, trade, transport and communications cooperation on equality and mutual benefit.

Articles VI–VII cover joint studies and action on flood control, river-basin development, hydropower and irrigation, and promote arts, literature, education, culture, sports and health. Articles VIII–X bar military alliances directed against each other, aggression and use of territory for military harm; require immediate consultations if either is attacked or threatened; and forbid secret commitments incompatible with the treaty.

The context is the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and Indian support for the Mukti Bahini and the exile government, followed by the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh’s independence. The treaty cemented relations immediately after victory.

In Bangladesh the treaty was later resented as unequal (Farakka, troop withdrawal); after Mujib’s assassination (1975), military regimes distanced Dhaka from India. The parties declined to renegotiate or renew the instrument when it expired on 19 March 1997.

The India–Bangladesh friendship treaty of 19 March 1972 remains the founding bilateral pact of post-independence relations, with the text published by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Image: Sheikh Mujibur Rahman; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Indo-Bangla Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Peace. Treaty text: Treaty of Peace and Friendship (MEA India).