Bangabandhu – The People’s Protagonist-61 ‘Friendship to all, malice to none’ Dr. Atiur Rahman 25th May, 2021 01:42:43 ‘Friendship to all, malice to none’ was the core mantra of Bangabandhu’s foreign policy. This principled stand on foreign relations originated in the early phase of his political career. He was opposed to Pakistan taking an explicit foreign policy in favour of pro-US defence pacts when he was still a young leader during the mid-1950s. Reacting to Pakistan signing a couple of such treaties in 1954, Bangabandhu wrote, “The newly created state of Pakistan should have followed a neutral and independent foreign policy. We should not have made enemies of any country. It was our duty to become friends with all countries of the world. It should have been a sin for us to even think of joining any military block since we should help maintain peace in the world and since peace is imperative to ensure the economic welfare of the people of a country.”(Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, ‘The Unfinished Memoirs’, Fourth Impression, UPL, 2019, p. 285).