Bangladesh’s chief adviser Muhammad Yunus met India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri amid an apparent strain in bilateral relations.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Meets Muhammad Yunus
Bangladesh’s chief adviser Muhammad Yunus met India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri amid an apparent strain in bilateral relations, where he raised the issue of ousted former PM Sheikh Hasina’s statements from India, saying it is creating tensions. “Our people are concerned because she is making many statements from there. It creates tensions,” Yunus told the Indian foreign secretary, according to an official statement. He also spoke on how students, workers and people joined hands during the student-led protests against Hasina to end her “corrupt regime”.
“We discussed some regrettable incidents of attacks on cultural, religious and diplomatic properties. We expect, overall, a constructive approach on all these issues by the Bangladesh authorities, and we look forward to moving the relationship forward in a positive, forward-looking, and constructive direction,” said Misri.
Foreign Secretaries of India and Bangladesh met here Monday for the high-level talks between the two nations amid strained bilateral ties following the ouster of prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August.
Since the political changes in Bangladesh in August this year, there has been contact between leaders of India and Bangladesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first world leader to greet the Chief Adviser on his assumption of office. The two of them had a very cordial telephone conversation thereafter and the Chief Adviser also accepted the Prime Minister’s invitation to speak at the Third Voice of Global South Summit that was held in August this year.
Since then, the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Bangladesh Foreign Affairs Adviser have also been in touch. They met each other on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September this year. Misri’s visit follows those interactions and is the first Foreign Secretary level structured engagement between the two sides following those developments.
Meanwhile, according to reports from Dhaka, Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary said that during the foreign office consultations, he urged India not to interfere in Bangladesh’s internal matters.
“We said people of all religions in Bangladesh freely practise their faiths. This is our internal affair. It is not expected of other countries to make comments on our internal matters,” Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary said while addressing local media in Dhaka after the meeting.
