Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, briefing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs chaired by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday, said that India does not support the criticism of Bangladesh's interim government made by ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
He emphasized that this issue remains a minor point of tension in India-Bangladesh relations, reports The Hindu.
He said India’s relation with Bangladesh was not limited to a “single political party” or a government, and that India was focused on the “people of Bangladesh”.
Misri said Hasina was using “private communication devices” to make her comments, and that the Government of India was not involved in providing her with any platform or facility that enables her to carry out her political activity from Indian soil.
This aligns with India’s longstanding practice of refraining from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, he added.
Misri’s remarks acquire significance as Hasina has been making video messages criticising the interim government in Bangladesh led by Chief Adviser Prof. Muhammad Yunus.
Misri informed the committee that during his visit to Dhaka on Monday, he informed the interim government that India’s relation with Bangladesh went beyond “a particular political party” or a particular government, and that India prioritised relation with the people of Bangladesh, and would engage with the government of the day.
Misri briefed the committee a day after returning from Dhaka, where he conveyed India’s “concerns” about the “regrettable incidents” in Bangladesh.
He described Bangladesh as the largest partner in trade and connectivity in South Asia, and said that in recent years the two sides had built rail links, bus links, inland waterways.
He, however, informed the committee that passenger rail services between the two countries remained “suspended."
He said India was concerned about the lack of acknowledgment of the alleged incidents of violence against minority communities but welcomed the latest report that authorities in Bangladesh had arrested 88 persons related to the violence against minority communities after the fall of the Hasina government.
Misri, according to sources, also said that there had been tangible improvement in the relationship after his visit.
Both sides, he said, explained their concerns.
For India, Misri said, the Bangladesh authorities’ decision to release many of the convicted “terrorists” who are indulging in anti-India rhetoric, remained an issue of deep concern.
The Bangladesh authorities, meanwhile, flagged the “disinformation” campaign in the Indian press about the events unfolding in that country.
Many committee members raised the arrest of ISKCON monks in Bangladesh, but no reply, as per the sources, was forthcoming from Misri on the issue.
He, however, told the members that during his visit to Dhaka, he informed the authorities there that there had to be an “acknowledgment” of the incidents that involved attacks on temples and the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre.
He said that while there was an attempt by the interim government of Bangladesh to describe the reports as exaggeration or media creation, there were “credible” organisations that have documented some of the incidents that required to be addressed.
Misri then pointed out that soon after his conversation on these lines, the press secretary of the Chief Adviser, Shafiqul Alam, held a press conference informing the number of arrests that had been made to deal with the attacks on minority groups.
He also informed that some of the justification of the attacks in Bangladesh referred to the fact that the incidents involved attacks on the activists of the Awami League, the former ruling party. Misri explained that such arguments could not “justify” such attacks.
Misri informed the committee that during his visit on Monday, he met Foreign Affairs adviser Touhid Hossain, Foreign Secretary Md. Jashim Uddin, and Prof. Yunus and emphasised the need for a “democratic, peaceful, stable and inclusive” Bangladesh.
He said that last year, 1.6 million visas were issued to visitors from Bangladesh, the largest number of visas that India has issued to any country during that time. He said India did not view the relation with Bangladesh as one based on “reciprocity” but as one that is grounded on “good neighbourly relationship”.
Misri also informed the committee that the issue of review of bilateral treaties did not feature in his conversation with Prof. Yunus.
Bd-Pratidin English/ARK
