Dhaka/New Delhi: The re-activation of Lalmonirhat air base, reportedly for Chinese use, by Bangladesh’s interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has prompted serious concerns over region’s security, several experts have highlighted.
Built in 1931 by the Britishers and used briefly during the Second World War, the airbase in Rangpur division was largely inactive until the 1950s. Located just 20 km away from the Indian border and not very far from the Siliguri corridor, or the ‘Chicken’s Neck’, it was used as a forward airbase for operations in Myanmar, then Burma, and other countries in South East Asia.
In 2019, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the setting up of a Bangladesh Aerospace and Aviation University at the airbase, which is now operational under the Bangladesh Air Force.
However, under Yunus’s leadership, the project appears to be shifting toward restoring full aerial operations with increased Chinese engagement, thus drawing serious scrutiny from the Indian security agencies.
Reliable sources have confirmed that Chinese officials have visited the Lalmonirhat airbase after Yunus, during his trip to China earlier this year, asked Beijing to develop a civilian airport there.
Experts reckon that the airbase might become a “comprehensive air operations centre,” providing support to Chinese air power close to Indo-Bangla border and through the rapid signal acquisition and data processing, China will get real-time access to India’s military as well as civilian activities in the Siliguri Corridor.
However, while addressing the media at an event on Sunday, a top Bangladeshi Army officer denied reports of any Chinese involvement at the airbase.
“The airport is being revived to support national needs, including the Aerospace University. I have no information about Chinese involvement. Rest assured, no foreign entity will be allowed to operate in a way that harms our security or national interest.” Brig Gen Nazim-ud-Daula was quoted as saying by Bangladeshi media.
During his China visit, Yunus had also referred to India’s northeast as “landlocked” and described Bangladesh as the region’s “only guardian of the ocean”.
Yunus’s remarks had invited massive criticism from India, including Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had described the comments as “offensive and strongly condemnable”.
Sarma on Sunday (May 25) again took to social media, saying that those who “habitually threaten” India on the ‘chicken neck corridor’ should note that Bangladesh has two such narrow strips of land, which are “far more vulnerable”.
“First is the 80 Km North Bangladesh Corridor- from Dakhin Dinajpur to South West Garo Hills. Any disruption here can completely isolate the entire Rangpur division from the rest of Bangladesh. Second is the 28 km Chittagong Corridor, from South Tripura till the Bay of Bengal. This corridor, smaller than India’s chicken neck, is the only link between Bangladesh’s economic capital and political capital,” Sarma had posted on X.
“I am only presenting geographical facts that some may tend to forget. Just like India’s Siliguri Corridor, our neighbouring country is also embedded with two narrow corridors of theirs,” he added.
(IANS)
