India does not endorse Hasina’s criticism of interim govt: Misri

India does not endorse deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s criticism of the interim government in Bangladesh and it remains a pinprick in India-Bangladesh relationship.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri made the statement on Wednesday while briefing the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Indian External Affairs, headed by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. 

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 Ms. 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, he said, was part of India’s traditional practice of avoiding interference in third countries.

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 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, Misri said, explained their concerns. For India, he 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, Rafiqul 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 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 the issue of review of bilateral treaties did not feature in his conversation with Yunus.