Even as China and Bangladesh are furthering their defence ties, a top official of the Indian Army visited Bangladesh from March 19 to March 22 with the intention of strengthening the bilateral military ties between India and Bangladesh.
The visit of Lt Gen M.M. Naravane, general officer commanding in chief (Eastern Command), is seen as an attempt to boost intelligence sharing between the two countries along with other regular aspects of defence cooperation.
The visit has come at a time when India has made Myanmar act tough against the insurgent groups working against India from its soil.
Lt Gen Naravane, one of the three senior most officers of the Indian Army, met with senior military officials, including the service chiefs of the Bangladesh military, and discussed various options of joint military exercise.
The defence ministry, in a statement, said, "They discussed various aspects of defence ties, including joint events and expeditions."
The GoC-in-C also interacted with the cadets of national defence college in Bangladesh and Bangladesh military academy. He was taken to various facilities of Bangladesh military academy.
Interestingly, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat chose Bangladesh for his first overseas trip after taking charge in 2017. India was desperate to have better military ties with Bangladesh two years back in the wake of growing military relationship between Bangladesh and China, particularly over the cooperation at the Naval level.
Following Gen Rawat's visit, Bangladesh military officials visited India and signed defence deals in 2018. With Lt Gen Naravane's visit, India has signaled that more cooperation is on the offing and that Bangladesh would not need to be solely dependent on China.
Senior officers in the Eastern Command hailed the visit as 'path-breaking' as 10 to 15 years ago, Bangladesh used to be a hub for Pakistan-backed militants and Northeastern insurgent groups.
"We have come a long way since then," said a senior officer.