Online Desk  :   Briefing the parliamentary standing committee on external affairs, led by Congress lawmaker Dr Shashi Tharoor, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Wednesday said India does not endorse ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s criticism of the interim government in Bangladesh, and it remains a pinprick in India-Bangladesh relationship. Misri 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” the report said. 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 the Indian soil. This was part of India’s traditional practice of avoiding interference in third countries, according to The Hindu reports. Misri’s remarks acquire significance as Hasina has been making video messages criticising the interim government in Bangladesh led by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.

Misri informed the committee that during his visit to Dhaka on Monday, he informed the interim government that India’s relationship with Bangladesh went beyond “a particular political party” or a particular government and that India prioritised relations 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 and bus links and inland waterways. He, however, informed the committee that passenger rail services between the two countries remained “suspended”, the report said.

He said India was concerned about the lack of acknowledgment of the alleged incidents of violence against minority communities but welcomed the latest report, which mentions 88 arrests over the violence against minority communities after the fall of the Hasina government. According to sources, Misri also said there had been tangible improvement in the relationship after his visit. Both sides explained their concerns. For India, the Bangladesh authorities’ decision to release many of the convicted “terrorists,” who are indulging in anti-India rhetoric, remained an issue of deep concern, said Misri. The Bangladesh authorities, meanwhile, flagged the “disinformation” campaign in the Indian press about the events unfolding in their country.

Many committee members raised the arrest of ISKCON monks in Bangladesh, but no reply was forthcoming from Misri on the issue, as per the sources. He, however, told the members that during his visit, he informed the authorities in Dhaka 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 Awami League, the former ruling party. Misri explained that such arguments could not “justify” such attacks. Misri informed the committee that during his visit to Dhaka, he met Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossein, Foreign Secretary Mohammad Jashim Uddin, and 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 he did not discuss the topic of bilateral treaty review with Yunus.