India really wants stable, constructive relationship with Bangladesh: Verma

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma today (3 December) said his country really wants to build a constant, stable, and constructive relationship with Bangladesh.

Talking to reporters briefly at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka, he said they were interested in working with Bangladesh to fulfil their shared aspirations in the field of peace, security, and development.

The envoy described the relationship between the two countries as “multifaceted and wide-ranging,” mentioning that they cannot sit with one issue or agenda.

He also said there are many interdependencies and they want to build on that for mutual benefits.

Earlier, the foreign ministry summoned the Indian high commissioner. Verma entered the ministry at around 4pm.

Asked, Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain said Verma had been asked to come.

The Indian high commissioner was then engaged in a meeting with the acting foreign secretary, Riaz Hamidullah.

Additional security measures were taken around the ministry by deploying army and police personnel.

Bangladesh authorities yesterday (2 December) said it “deeply resents” the “violent demonstration and attack” by a large group of protesters of the Hindu Sangharsh Samity of Agartala on the premises of the Assistant High Commission of Bangladesh in Tripura’s Agartala.

The foreign ministry, in a statement, underlined that this “heinous attack” on a diplomatic mission of Bangladesh and desecration of the national flag of Bangladesh comes in a pattern, further to a similar violent demonstration in Kolkata on 28 November.

“This particular act in Agartala stands in violation of the inviolability of diplomatic missions, as the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, asks for,” the ministry said.