Sushma meets Hasina, no talks on Rohingyas

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York City, but the Rohingya crisis did not come up for discussion during their meeting, which took place less than a week after they spoke about the issue on the telephone.

“The meeting with the prime minister of Bangladesh was more in the nature of a courtesy meeting. It was a very short meeting. The issue of Rohingya did not come up during the meeting for discussion,” said the ministry’s spokesman Raveesh Kumar, who termed the discussion “purely bilateral”.

India has been undertaking a slew of development and infrastructure projects as part of over $7 billion line of credit extended to Bangladesh since 2010 and some of these are ready for inauguration.

“Warm encounter reflecting our historical and cultural ties. Courtesy call on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina by EAM,” Kumar said in a post on Twitter.

Swaraj had telephoned Hasina on Thursday last week and extended India’s support to Bangladesh’s position on the issue of Rohingyas. The meeting between Swaraj and Hasina came hours before State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi’s state of the union address, in which she condemned human rights violations in Rakhine state. Bangladesh, which is facing a big influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, has called on the international community to put pressure on Myanmar to stop the exodus.

Swaraj also met Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay, but Dokalam did not figure in the meeting. The external affairs ministry spokesman said that since the Doklam issue was already settled, there was “no question of it coming up in discussions”. “There are a lot of projects, which are going on in India and the two sides discussed how to take this cooperation forward,” Kumar said.

In another tweet after Swaraj’s meeting with the Bhutanese prime minister, Kumar said, “Strengthening traditionally unique bilateral relations. EAM @SushmaSwaraj meets with Bhutanese PM @tsheringtobgay in New York.”The Bhutanese prime minister said he and Swaraj discussed a wide range of bilateral issues. “Such a pleasure meeting H.E @SushmaSwaraj ji, External Affairs Minister of India, ” Tobgay tweeted.