External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh’s foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain in New York on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
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In a first after over a month following the ouster of Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and interim government taking over the charge of India’s neighouring nation, India and Bangladesh had their first high-level in-person engagement.
The venue was New York on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar held a bilateral meeting with a key member of Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus’ team, his foreign affairs adviser Md Touhid Hossain.
Both the leaders met on Tuesday and their conversation was focused on India-Bangladesh ties.
There was also a possibility of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yunus’ meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA, but they could not due to different arrival and departure timings.
1 – The bilateral between Jaishankar and Hossain took place amid rising anti-India sentiment in Bangladesh in wake of the fall of Hasina-led government.
2 – According to a report by Times of India, Jaishankar is learnt to have reiterated India’s emphasis on restoration of law and order in Bangladesh.
3 – During the bilateral meeting with Hossain, Jaishankar also reportedly highlighted the need for the safety of minorities in Bangladesh.
4 – Jaishakar is also believed to have reaffirmed India’s commitment to work with a peaceful and stable Bangladesh.
5 – Hossain and Jaishakar’s meeting came within days after the former said in a recent interview that it was not the ideal situation for governments to say that the relationship was good while people of Bangladesh have anti-India sentiments.
6 – Right before meeting Jaishankar, Hossain said, “Acknowledging the problem is important for addressing it. We will definitely try to sort out the tension and maintain working relations. The relationship will have to be based on mutual respect and fairness.”
7 – Also, the meeting between the two leaders comes a week after Hossain said, Bangladesh wishes to have a normal relation with Pakistan. “For the last several years, relation with Pakistan was cold. Pakistan wants to come out of that phase. We also want to move ahead in the relation with Pakistan to the extent possible. We have a few issues with Pakistan about which discussions have been stalled. We intend to build a normal relation in which Pakistan will look after its interest and we will look after our interests,” he said during an interview with BBC Bangla.
‘Hindus in Bangladesh are our citizens’
Talking to the media in New York, after meeting Jaishankar, Hossain on Tuesday also claimed that Yunus-led government was “doing everything possible to protect everything possible for the protection of our citizens and the Hindus in Bangladesh are our citizens, we are taking care of them.”
”…It is correct that some violence has taken place, but any violence that has taken place is being shown as violence against Hindus, this is not correct…I think the Indian media needs to come out of this hyping of this issue,” he further said.
Since the fall of the Hasina-led government, anti-India sentiments have been on rise among radicals in Bangladesh. She resigned and departed Dhaka on August 5 after the student-led quota reform movement escalated into a widespread agitation.