Foreign Secretary to visit Bangladesh amid rising attacks on Hindus

Amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is scheduled to visit Dhaka for foreign office consultations on December 9. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This is part of our structured interactions with Bangladesh.”

Atrocities on minorities Worst since ’71: Ex-envoy

New Delhi: Former Indian Ambassador to Bangladesh Veena Sikri on Friday said the attacks on Hindus and other religious minorities being witnessed in Bangladesh since the regime change there have been “the worst since 1971 when the war for liberation of the country took place”. Speaking at an outreach on the issue organised by the RSS here, Sikri said in 2001 when Khalida Zia was elected Bangladesh PM, Hindus were attacked but the attacks stopped a few weeks after then Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee sent Brajesh Mishra as special envoy to engage Bangladesh on the issue.

Jaiswal also addressed the issue of the arrest of monk Chinmoy Krishna Das of the ISKCON, saying, “We would like to reiterate our expectation that the relevant legal processes underway in Bangladesh are executed in a fair, just and transparent manner, ensuring full respect for the legal rights of individuals concerned.”

India is expected to raise multiple issues during the visit, including the security of minorities, trade and connectivity, sources said.

Last week, Bangladesh summoned India’s envoy to Dhaka, just hours after closing its visa and consular office in Tripura following a security incident. Tensions between the two countries have escalated amid violence against the Hindu community in Bangladesh.

Indian High Commissioner Pranay Verma, after a meeting with Bangladesh’s interim acting Foreign Secretary Riaz Hamidullah, reiterated India’s commitment to fostering a stable and constructive partnership with Bangladesh. “We have a wide-ranging and multifaceted relationship. You cannot reduce it to one issue,” Verma stated.

The latest unrest in Bangladesh was sparked by the arrest of Das over sedition, following allegations that he hoisted a saffron flag above Bangladesh’s national flag in Chittagong on October 25.

Meanwhile, the MEA has asked Pakistan to take strong action against Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar, after reports emerged that he delivered a speech recently at a public gathering in Bahawalpur. The MEA said if the reports of Azhar's location were correct, then Pakistan's “duplicity” had been exposed as it had been maintaining that the JeM chief was not in that country. (With PTI inputs)