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THREE and a half years ago, I got remarried. It is a second marriage for both of us, and while it is common for individuals to get a second chance in life, it is unusual for countries. We planned a vacation to such a country.

Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan, was created in 1971 after a bloody civil war in which the Pakistani Army committed atrocities. My wife is a Pakistani American. Her family lived through this history — her father was in the Pakistani civil service, stationed in East Pakistan at the time, and was a prisoner of war held in India for more than two years. In preparing for this vacation, I worried she might encounter some hostility. She discounted this and had a ‘they-will-love-me’ attitude. Once again, she was right, and I was wrong. We were met only with warmth.

Something extraordinary is happening in Bangladesh. In July, students started to protest government cronyism in placement of public sector jobs. The effort snowballed after the police slaughtered more than a thousand young people and injured thousands more. Events climaxed with the dictator Sheikh Hasina fleeing by helicopter and seeking refuge in neighboring India, whose government had supported her in her increasingly authoritarian rule.

I wanted to return to Bangladesh to see what things were like post-revolution and to visit my famous friend, Muhammad Yunus. Yunus, ‘the banker to the poor’ and founder of more than 60 ‘social businesses,’ is known to many Utahns. He was honored at the Freedom Festival in Provo in 2005 and received an honorary doctorate at BYU in 1998. He is one of only seven individuals to be awarded the Nobel prize, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Yunus, who had been battling fake charges leveled by Hasina for more than a decade, was expecting imminent imprisonment. Then, in the most extraordinary turn of events of my lifetime, the ‘Monsoon Revolution’ occurred, headed by Gen Z Bangladeshis — students who drafted a reluctant Yunus, the most trusted person in the country, to head the interim government.

There is a new optimism now in Bangladesh. What is wanted by its people is a democratic ‘Bangladesh 2.0.’ Can a country with all its institutions corrupted by the last government reform itself? The world is about to find out.

As you can imagine, not everyone wants Yunus and the interim government to succeed. The old cronies of the last government have lost their stable, if ill-gotten, revenue source and want their power back. India, which benefitted handsomely under a Hasina-led Bangladesh, has been waging a media storm of disinformation about widespread violence against Hindus living in Bangladesh. Hasina’s son, who lives in the US, has hired an expensive DC lobby firm close to president Donald Trump. It seems to be working, as then-candidate Trump posted an inaccurate and inflammatory social media post last fall, and Rep Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill, made a similar statement on the floor of Congress.

I love India and I love Bangladesh. I have visited both countries numerous times and have friends in both countries. To watch two countries, to which I feel a close affinity, engage in animosities causes me distress. False social media stories have fueled the ‘Out India’ movement in Bangladesh and also led to a riot at a Bangladeshi consulate in India.

I have an Indian doctor friend who I have worked with closely on improving emergency care in India. I asked him for his impressions about recent events. Consistent with Indian media reports, he said, ‘It’s horrible what is happening to Hindus there. It is going to end up being a terrorist state.’

This perception was not grounded in reality. Yes, there were crimes committed, especially right after Hasina’s exit. Many crimes have been linked to Hasina supporters in an effort to undermine the new government. The Interim Government has gone to great lengths to make religious minorities feel safe. The disinformation coming from India seems to have taken on a life of its own and seems to drown out on-the-ground journalism in Bangladesh.

After arriving in Dhaka, we talked about Bangladeshi life and politics with everyone we could. This was in no way a comprehensive survey. I am not a scholar or a journalist, just a US citizen committed to creating a peaceful world.

What I learnt was that the incorruptible Yunus is loved and respected by the public. They have confidence in his judgment. They want democratic reforms in public institutions and know it will take time. Most want to delay elections until significant reforms are made.

Muhammad Rahman, 40, of Dhaka, told me that ‘the biggest difference since the change in government is that now anyone can express oneself. Before you might have opinions, but you could not express them. You had to keep them inside. Now we have a free press, and anyone can say what they want.’ When asked about the possible return of Hasina, he said, ‘There is zero chance that Hasina will return to power. She would not be accepted.’ An Uber driver told us that if Hasina returns, ‘she will kill all of us.’

I talked with a group of 30 Hindu women in the village of Kuritali, in the District of Narsingdi, an hour’s drive from Dhaka. They told me that their lives have not changed with the change in government. I asked them about the media reports of violence against Hindus and other religious minorities. I asked if they have experienced any or were aware of any such occurrences. They laughed. Chondra Das told me, ‘This is just propaganda. We live peacefully with our neighbors.’

Accountability for past crimes will be important for a new, more transparent Bangladesh. Hasina is accused of numerous serious crimes — brazen levels of corruption, more than 2,000 extra-judicial killings, ‘disappearances,’ secret prisons and the bloodshed of the revolution in July and August.

India has a public relations problem in Bangladesh. I don’t understand the Indian strategy. If India wants to reinstall Hasina, it will not succeed. The Bangladeshi people are done with her.

If India wants to turn Bangladesh into a less-than-friendly neighbor, then the strategy is working. If India wants perhaps not a warm but a cordial relationship with its neighbor, then it should reach out to the interim government and join in a reset of relations. They will need to seek relations based on respect and mutual interests.

Good relations between these two countries, which account for one-fifth of the world’s population, can and must be achieved for the benefit of the people of both countries. A second chance is possible.

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Deseret.com, 23 January. Scott Leckman is a general surgeon and is a member of the Rotary Club of Salt Lake City, Utah.