M. Humayun Kabir, President of the Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI), on Friday said the business relationship between India and Bangladesh should be based on merit and strength.

He made the remark when Dhaka was observing the Foreign Service Day.

“Well, that was a fiery time. We were all in the field just to gear up for our long liberation struggle. At that time, I recall on the 18th of April 1971, Hossain Ali raised the Bangladeshi flag and declared that the deputy high commission is Bangladesh’s property. It represents Bangladesh. That really was a great energiser for all of us,” Kabir, who is a former Bangladesh envoy, told ANI.

“The announcement that came on the 18th, the deputy high commissioner expressed allegiance to the Bangladesh government, which was a big energy and subsequently also from Delhi, our former senior colleague K M Shihab Uddin and Amzadul Haq, both of them also came out, and that gave us a great degree of strength. We then realised our liberation war is getting global attention,” he said.

“We set up the Mujibnagar government on the 17th of April, and the Indian government extended support. During our entire liberation war, the Indian government was very helpful. I myself was trained in Dehradun as a freedom fighter. We wanted to be independent, and India gave us a helping hand. We appreciate that and we recognise the Indian contributions for their support in our great liberation war,” the BEI President said.

He said Bangladesh's relationship with India and China is different.

“We are just trying to normalise. Our relations with India are one track, our relations with China are on another track… Each relation is different. I don’t believe Bangladesh has done anything that can make India concerned," the former diplomat said.

“Business should be allowed with its own merit and strengths. If politics get into it, that affects everybody. I think the suspension of transhipment or the suspension of import through the land boundary, neither of them will benefit anybody. Trade relations should continue as it is. It should be driven by and governed by the economic interest of both the country,” he said.

The relationship between India and Bangladesh touched a new low point after former PM Sheikh Hasina fled to New Delhi on August 5, 2025, amid violent protests against her regime.