CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who lost power on August 5 following month-long violent street protests in Bangladesh, formulated her foreign policy based on her instincts and perceptions rather than sound diplomatic analyses. On her team, there had been hardly anyone whom she could rely on, especially regarding her dealings with America. Her understanding of how things work in Washington came mostly from decades-old views prevalent in the region and her interactions with Americans and Bengalis living in the United States.
Among her senior advisers with knowledge of inner workings of the United States was Gowher Rizvi, who taught at Harvard, worked as an academic administrator at the University of Virginia and for the Ford Foundation in India. But he remained busy tending to Hasina’s top foreign affairs priority – keeping India in good humour.
The prime minister appointed Rizvi her international affairs adviser to keep a direct link with India bypassing the foreign office where her wishes got buried in bureaucratic logjam. Before visiting New Delhi in 2010, Hasina asked him to open a separate channel to the giant neighbour. This “prime ministerial channel” was unknown to anyone in Bangladesh outside the prime minister’s office. Bangladesh’s foreign ministry was unaware of Rizvi’s activities, as was the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.